The Nominee, The Director and the Retirement Village - Corruption in Progress

Photo: Alexander Mils (Unsplash)

Pecanwood Corruption Watch has received requests from various residents to investigate certain allegations regarding one of the candidates nominated for appointment to the Pecanwood Board of Directors.

The most noteworthy allegations leveled at the Individual are:

1. That there is pending legal action of fraud involving an allegation of defrauding the Individual's business partner/s of approximately R15 million.

2. That the Individual has a vested interest in the proposed Pecanwood retirement village Project and this is the reason why another Director, who also has a direct interest in this Project, has been pushing for the Individual's appointment.

3. We have also learned that the Individual vacated employment at a well known auditing firm under a cloud, the specific details of which may be communicated later.

We are aware that the Nominee is actively canvassing residents to obtain a proxy vote and that meetings are being scheduled to advance the Individual's personal self enrichment objective to be elected to the Board and to "explain the benefits" of having the retirement village tie into the Estate.

Pecanwood Corruption Watch has contacted the PHOA enquiring about the vetting process for candidates to the Board and as of date of publication it appears that no vetting process is in place. This has far reaching consequences for Members who are entrusting Directors to ensure a convivial and corruption free community environment. Residents rely on the integrity, skill and ability of Board members to perform their duties in the communal interest. If no vetting process is in place to ascertain and verify the integrity, honesty and educational qualifications of Board members, is it any wonder that we are in trouble as a community?

We urge residents to please communicate any further details to Pecanwood Corruption Watch in this regard as the above allegations require thorough and further investigation as it affects all Residents on the Estate. All information will be treated with the strictest confidentiality. The expectation of the bulk of the Residents is to see Directors on the Board who will focus on communal interests as set out in the MOI and the eradication of corruption rather than having Directors on the Board who are there purely for self enrichment schemes.

We further urge residents to apply proper diligence in deciding who to vote for in the upcoming Board Elections to prevent Board capture for vested interests that you would be footing the bill for, through exorbitant levies

The proposed retirement village has no financial connection to the Pecanwood Homeowners Association. The Association as an entity has not sought permission from members to invest in the development and members have not given their permission for the Homeowners Association to enter into such an agreement.

The Pecanwood Homeowners Association is cash strapped and lacks the financial ability to obtain loans from the recognized financial institutions. Any financing would have to be raised from members through increasing the already exorbitant levies and from using monies from the Association’s Reserve Fund which has been dramatically reduced over the past few years without any reasonable explanation being provided to Residents.

We re-iterate, the only access to borrowing the Homeowners Association has is through raising exorbitant levies on the Members while mismanaging the affairs of the Association.

Entering a “Heads of Agreement” arrangement with the Developer of the retirement village without Members' approval in a general meeting is criminal, a violation of the MOI and another effort to draw Residents into funding the maintenance and upgrading of property not owned by the Association.

The Pecanwood Board has exposed Residents to multiple acts of corruption and of funding businesses that Residents as a community are not party to.

Several individual residents of Pecanwood Estate have invested in the development of the retirement village and have planned their course of action over several years. One of their objectives is to get as many of their investors who reside on Pecanwood Estate on to the Board of the Pecanwood Homeowners Association. We have received information that an existing Board member is an investor in the retirement village, and he was “elected” to the Board at the controversial AGM of 2021.

Another of the objectives of these investors is to position themselves so that the retirement village will have access to the Pecanwood Homeowners Association utility infrastructure and share in the facilities leased from Country Heights Berhad. Considering that the Association has neglected to maintain the common property as defined in the MOI, the additional burden that will be placed on infrastructure through tying in from the privately owned retirement village will place an undue financial burden on Residents while the developer and his investors benefit financially.

The recently issued "three year Project Plan" which makes provision for the expansion of the water and sanitation infrastructure of the Estate must be viewed in this light. The Project Plan is funded through Members' levies and the financial impact on Residents is harsh and unsustainable.

Please remember again to be very sure of how your proxy holder would vote before issuing your proxy. Remember that you can always re-issue your proxy if you change your mind. You can do this by informing the original proxy holder of your choice and re-issue the proxy with different voting details to either the same or different proxy holder. Make sure that your revised proxy has the latest date.

© Pecanwood Corruption Watch