Crocus Receiver Report Released
Same Old, Same Old
- Darlene Dziewit, MFL President
On November 15, Madame Justice D. McCawley released the report of an investigation conducted by the Crocus Fund's Deloitte and Touche receiver, Russ Holmes. Mr. Holmes had gone to court to request the release of his report, along with an order by the court to have the report posted on the Crocus web site, thereby ensuring himself of immunity from any resulting lawsuits against him.
While consenting to the release of the report, Justice McCawley refused to grant Mr. Holmes immunity from any lawsuit arising from his claimed findings. Any potential lawsuit will now put this receiver in the uncomfortable position of having to defend his claims, as well as requiring him to submit to being cross examined in a court of law, just like anyone else.
The origin of Mr. Holmes' report is somewhat odd, and certainly rare among receivers, who are usually not interested in the sort of sleuthing Mr. Holmes has undertaken. Many, including myself, wondered why such a report was needed in the first place, and what it would accomplish. After all, over the last couple of years, Crocus has surely been the most investigated entity in Manitoba's history.
No one had requested the report, and it was predicted that the cost would be great. Since Mr. Holmes announced his intention to conduct his investigation, over a year has elapsed, and some $700,000 of shareholder money has been spent by Mr. Holmes to prepare the 1000 or so pages of his findings. Even Justice McCawley referred to the report as a "considerable expense and use of resources". Furthermore, the report, according to those who have read it, appears to say nothing new about Crocus.
After reading Justice McCawley's decision, I was heartened by her obvious understanding as to the limitations of the receiver's report. Her obvious lack of willingness to embrace his findings, coupled with her refusal to grant Mr. Holmes his sought after immunity, speaks volumes. In fact, the Judge made the following comments regarding the reliability of Mr. Holmes' findings:
"It is perhaps also worthwhile to observe that the Receiver's Report is not the result of a comprehensive investigation but rather comes before the court as a limited and selective review of some of the records of Crocus." And the Judge went on to make this caution about the report:
"In its preparation, no interviews were conducted and no representations were made by any of the Initial Recipients. To the extent that any conclusions are drawn or opinions offered, they must be seen in this context."
Upon reading Justice McCawley's Reasons for her decision in the matter of the receiver's report on Crocus, I was initially gratified with the results. It appeared that the report would be given the weight (or lack thereof) that it deserved.
Unfortunately, and to no one's surprise, most media coverage of reaction to the Crocus receiver's report from the cast of characters who have been commenting on the Crocus story since day one was overwhelmingly one sided. Almost every story seemed to accept the receiver's report (duly quoted by some of the cast with glee) without question, and on absolute face value.
Almost no one referred to the Judge's misgivings about the report. In fact, by listening to most of the coverage, one would never have known that the report was released by a sceptical Judge at all. Speculation ran rampant. Conclusions were made, and guilt was assigned, all based on an incomprehensive, limited and selective review of Crocus, as described by the presiding Judge in this matter.
Most of the reporting on Mr. Holmes' self requested Crocus report was shameful and shockingly lazy. I am distressed at the lack of balance displayed, and would hope that this is rectified soon.
I thought long and hard about whether to write this response to the events of November 15, and the surrounding and continuing circus Crocus inevitably seems to cause. Potentially, it would keep, front and centre, all the negative and destructive speculation. However, given that the Manitoba Federation of Labour is being blamed by some for all the ills of Crocus, I felt that a statement was necessary, if only to put on record our response to the Crocus receiver's report. I sincerely hope that there will be no need to continue this debate.
I have no intention of belabouring this issue, but to say nothing could be interpreted by some as either guilt, and/or agreement. Neither could be farther from the truth.