A Senate committee on Thursday will now have the opportunity to grill Fok, who initially declined to appear before the parliamentarians, claiming he feared he could jeopardise an independent review the prudential regulator ordered the fund to undertake.
Committee chair, and Liberal MP, Andrew Bragg said he would question Fok on the fund’s connection to the CFMEU – which has been placed into administration after this masthead revealed widespread criminal infiltration and corruption – the ASIC investigation, and Cbus chair Wayne Swan’s $5 million commitment to the Housing Australia Future Fund.
The Australian Prudential and Regulation Authority in August ordered Cbus to get an independent review of whether three CFMEU-linked directors are fit to sit on the fund’s board and had acted in the best financial interest of members.
In a letter to Fok, Bragg advised him he could explain to the committee why he was unable to answer questions on the APRA-ordered review.
“After a lot of back and forth I’m pleased they accepted the invitation of the committee,” Bragg said.
Fok will also be grilled on whether Swan, a former federal Labor treasurer, should be held accountable for the alleged failings given his role as chair. Court told a press conference in Sydney she would not be making any comment on Swan.
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The sister of a former Cbus member told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday it took the fund two years after her 40-year-old brother’s death to begin processing his death benefits claim.
The family are still battling the super fund to access the $500,000 in his superannuation account more than three years after he died.
“My mum rings up and she follows it up, and they say ‘call back in two more weeks’, but she’s 79 this year and she gets emotional every time,” she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to not jeopardise the claims process.
“She doesn’t sleep for the next two nights, she has to keep bringing it up, and it wasn’t exactly the nicest of deaths.”
She said Cbus’ treatment of her family after her brother’s death added to their trauma.
Superannuation and insurance lawyer Paul Watson, from Berrill and Watson, said funds had an obligation to act in their members’ best interests, and that included processing claims in a timely manner. “The people who are lodging these claims are invariably either vulnerable people seeking to claim disability insurance or someone who has lost a loved one – in both instances they need the money and they need it urgently,” Watson said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers would not comment on the allegations against Cbus because they are before a court, but said the case showed regulators were doing their job.
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