----- Original Message -----
From: Para
To: Recipient list suppressed
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 10:01 PM
Subject: An equitable life for some
An equitable life for some
By Mark Hollingsworth
Vanni Treves, who sanctioned the reduction paid to Equitable Life policyholders, has had some curious connections in his career.
Angry policyholders of Equitable Life, whose pension fund values have been cut by 16 per cent, will be intrigued to learn of the varied commercial and private intelligence connections of its chairman, Vanni Emmanuele Treves.
A City solicitor, Treves has been at the heart of the interconnecting City, legal and media establishment for the past 15 years. His most controversial cameo role was during the Robert Maxwell scandal. On August 6,1991, Treves, then a senior partner of MacFarlanes, was consulted by Peter Laister, a director of Maxwell Communications Corporation (MCC), who was concerned by his boss dipping into company funds for his personal use
"Don't make any public statement which could endanger the private companies or risk the repayment of the loans to MCC," replied Treves. This perplexed Laister, who thought it was his role as a director to report criminal activity.
"Who can we tell?" he asked.
"Nobody" counselled the lawyer. "You must exercise absolute caution."
But Laister was unsatisfied by this advice. Two days later, he returned to see Treves in his office, accompanied by three other directors who were equally alarmed by Maxwell's robbery of company funds. Once again the lawyer told them not to disclose any information to third parties.
"You're in a dangerous position," said Treves. "You could be held liable for breaches of the Companies Acts, which require you to protect the interests of shareholders. You must urgently get all the facts, but don't talk to anyone, including the auditors. Talking to others could mean leaks and endanger MCC's chance of retrieving its money from Maxwell's private companies."
Maxwell biographers claim that if Treves had advised those directors to report their concerns at the time three months before the crooked tycoon's death the theft of the pension funds may have been prevented.
Treves' nondisclosure advice might explain his current corporate links to the mysterious Hakluyt and Company Ltd, a private commercial intelligence agency owned and run by former senior M16 officers. Last month the Sunday Times revealed that Hakluyt: spied on environmental groups to gather information on behalf of oil companies, including Shell and BP. The firm's agent, who posed as a leftwing sympathiser and film maker, was hired to leak plans of Greenpeace operations against oil multinationals.
Set up in 1995 with the blessing of former MI6 chief Sir David Spedding, Hakluyt sells commercial intelligence to major FTSE corporations. Much of its work is in the former Soviet Union and China. The company has more than 100 "associates" to call on and retains a strategic agreement with Kissinger Associates. "The idea was to do for industry what we had done for government," its managing director Christopher James, a former SAS and senior M16 officer, told the Financial Times. "In the services you get to understand a great deal about the people who make things work. I felt what we provided might have some commercial value."
Hakluyt and Co also has a foundation of establishment and diplomatic figures to oversee its work and coordinate its network. But it is the company's share ownership that reflects its close links to big business, Whitehall and intelligence. The majority shareholder, managing director Christopher James, was head of the M16 section that liaised with the private sector. Other shareholders include Michael Reynolds, former head of M16's station in Germany, Sir Peter Cazalet, former BP deputy chairman, Sir Peter Holmes, former Shell chairman, Sir Brian Cubbon, former permanent secretary at the Home Office and Lord Alexander Trotman, former chief executive of Ford
USA. Then there is a small stake owned by an intriguing company called Transon Ltd, one of whose directors since November 1995 has been 60yearold Vanni Treves. Punch has discovered that Transon Ltd is a non-trading firm whose ultimate and beneficial owner is Sir (John) Paul Getty, the billionaire philanthropist who donated £5 million to the Conservative Party during the last general election campaign.
Treves is intrinsically linked to Transon Ltd: the firm's registered office at 10 Norwich Street in the City is at the same address as his former law firm, MacFarlanes. He is also a director of its parent company, Transon Holdings Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands, whose purpose is "investment in property and other companies". The lawyer clearly knows Sir Paul well, as he has been a trustee of the J Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust since 1985.
Treves's indirect interest in a private business intelligence agency only enhances his credentials as an Establishment insider and networker. A member of the private club, Boodles, he has been chairman of Channel 4 since 1998 and is head of the governing body of the London Business School. He was also a director of Saatchi & Saatchi and chairman of the agency's pension scheme. Between 1987 and 1999, he was a senior partner of MacFarlanes.
However, Treves's current post facing the wrath of Equitable Life's policyholders could be his greatest challenge yet. Last July, before he became chairman on March 1, 2001, the House of Lords ruled that the mutual life assurer had acted unlawfully in reducing the final bonuses paid to policyholders with guarantees.
Treves, who himself has a substantial pension policy with Equitable, then had the uncomfortable task of announcing the decision to cut millions of pounds off the value of policyholders' savings.
"We very much regret the need to reduce bonuses and the great concern this will cause policyholders, particularly after the disappointments they have suffered in the past year," he said.
"We are dealing with a decline in the stock market over 18 months. The gap between the value of policies and the value of the assets that back them has grown so fast that we had no choice."
He added that it was "painful but cathartic".
Equitable now faces the prospect of potential legal action by furious policyholders. The smooth-talking Treves, described as "presentable" and "a fit man for a challenge", may need to draw on all his legal, commercial, media and private intelligence connections to manage the crisis.
