by Laurence Fletcher
edited by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith
August 15, 2011
from
Reuters Website
Reuters
FASD, based in the small village of Hadlow Down
in southern England, is one company that has shown interest in bonds that
were bought by
failed hedge fund DD Growth Premium, although its chairman
denies this.
On its website, FASD says its mission,
"is to find and manage financially rewarding
alternative investment options for those accredited and experienced
clients who want to grow their financial wealth as well as participate
in global humanitarian projects."
Wim Van Hooydonk, FASD's chairman and
director, told Reuters in a telephone interview he didn't,
"want anything to do with these bonds.
Somebody from Italy, a certain professor, has mixed us up in these
transactions, and we don't want to be involved in these transactions at
all."
But correspondence seen by Reuters between Van
Hooydonk and Grant Thornton, liquidators of the DDCM Master fund,
indicates he had at one stage been very keen.
"We remain totally committed to complete the
transaction and confirm that the first payment is going to be completely
(sic) quite shortly, very likely before the end of the week," said an
October 2010 mail about a planned purchase of the bonds.
FASD has very close links to a charitable
foundation headed by
Bruno Gillier called
Gillier Humanity (yellow box - below
image), which is, according to its
website,
"dedicated to making a positive impact on
the quality of life" in places such as Tahiti, Fiji and Thailand.
Origin
Gillier Humanity plans to spend at least
$385 billion to create hundreds of thousands of jobs around the world.
The
charity says it wants to buy two or three airlines, a top 10 hotel or resort
operator, and banks. Gillier also plans to spend $5.5 billion to transform
the 400-acre
Nicaraguan province of Montecristo into a "modern day Monaco."
"Monte Cristeau (sic) is the same physical size as Monaco and will have a
similar economy, government and infrastructure," read Gillier's plans.
"Gillier
Humanity will develop the following: set up the desired form of government
(constitutional monarchy), with heads of state and ambassadors, create a
constitution, flag, banking system with gold-backed currency, have
international embassies and consulate offices worldwide, and offer
diplomatic missions and diplomatic immunity."
