Whaling body hit hard by investment scandal

Press, 20 December 1988, Page 40

Whaling body hit hard by investment scandal

By TONY VERDON The International Whaling Commission stands to lose up to $280,000 as a result of the Barlow Clowes investment scandal, according to the “Guardian” newspaper in London. The commission was one of a number of organisations that put money into the offshore arm of Barlow Clowes after being attracted by promises of high returns from a riskfree investment. But the failure of the Gibraltar-based Barlow Clowes International Group and its sister, British Fund, in June has apparently left the commission facing the loss of most of its money. The “Guardian” says it has also endangered the future of the commission’s staff as the money in-

vested had been set aside to pay them off if the organisation closed. “This particular sum was the redundancy money, which would have been normally available to them,” a spokesman told the newspaper. The commission is an internationally funded group that sets limits on the number of whales that can be caught each year by fishing nations. A former New Zealand diplomat, Mr lan Stewart, has been the commission’s chairman.

The “Guardian” said that the commission began investing in Barlow Clowes International a year ago, six months before the investment empire, headed by Mr Peter Clowes, failed. Recommendations had been provided by an un-

named company of financial advisers that considered Barlow Clowes a worthy investment. But the “Guardian” said it was the commission’s decision to invest.

Legal advice had since been taken to see how much of its money could be recovered. The “Guardian” said the sum in question made up about a quarter of the commission’s funds. But at best it could only hope to get back about 40 per cent of the money. The "Guardian” said Barlow Clowes liquidators had so far traced about $126 million of the total fund invested. A commission spokesman described the potential loss as disappointing, but said the commission would have to "wait and see what happens.”