EMAG

The independent action group for current and ex Equitable Life policyholders, funded by contributions.

Equitable Members Action Group

Equitable Members Action Group Limited, a company limited by guarantee, number 5471535 registered in the UK

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Documents: 22/07/2005 - Arthur White, Equitable Life pensioner and policyholders’ hero has died

Arthur White, Equitable Life pensioner and policyholders’ hero has died.

Arthur’s last public outing was to the Equitable Life AGM less than two months ago. On several occasions Arthur challenged the Equitable’s chairman Vanni Treves – never more persistently than on 18 May 2005. An earlier skirmish between the two that members will recall was on 11 January 2002, at the Wembley meeting to present the compromise vote, when Arthur alleged that FRAUD had taken place and insisted that his comments be minuted. They were not. Arthur attended this year’s AGM because he was determined to speak, despite great personal discomfort. He died of cancer in London Bridge hospital on 12 July.

Arthur wanted the board to stop the obfuscation at Equitable and to agree to publish briefs and the legal advice that policyholders had paid for. To the very end, Arthur fought to have the information divulged, but as recently as 15 July the Society wrote back: ““…we have no plans to make copies of all the witness statements generally available. When the Court makes them available, you will be able to obtain them from that source.” This was written, contrary to the following exchange at that AGM:

Vanni Treves to Arthur: “We are happy to provide any information, legal or otherwise, that isn't privileged. A great deal of information is privileged and…and, what is more, is now the subject of Court proceedings. However, the good news is that an awful lot of information - which you'll be delighted, I know, to read - is available as a function of those Court proceedings and…and...…will keep you fully occupied, not to say entertained, for a long time to come - we're talking about rooms full of paper!

Arthur White: Let's not confuse the issue, chairman. You're trying to confuse and defuse the situation. I'm simply not talking about the current legal action. I'm talking about the information that you hold.

Treves: The question as to whether or not there was fraud or any other misfeasance on the part of our predecessors is central to the litigation.”

Equitable’s silk, Robert Miles QC, subsequently had to apologise to the Court on Mr Treves’ behalf on 5 July for that misleading remark, made in front of members and the press,with the following words:

“Mr Treves accepts that that comment is not correct and should not have been made.”

Arthur asked me to try to obtain answers to his unanswered questions and gave me effective power of attorney to continue his correspondence but the Society’s stonewalling letter of 15 July also included:

“With regard to the legal costs, we understood Mr White’s request to relate to the litigation.”

Arthur’s AGM question was: “Returning to a matter which was last year requested, and I want to get to the bottom of as well, was the question of legal expenses that the company has incurred over a few years time. That's been the subject of further correspondence between the company secretary and myself, and records will show that. What I still want to know is, for the years ended 2000 up to the current year 2004, can I please have FULL details of the legal expenses which have been charged to the company's profit and loss account?”

After 54 days in Court the Equitable’s legal costs just on the two cases that the Society is prosecuting are estimated to already exceed £35m, yet the only figure on the Equitable’s website about litigation costs, last updated on 30 May 2005, states:

“Litigation is very expensive and in 2004 the Society’s own costs amounted to £8.4m”.

It was exactly this kind of obfuscation that Arthur White repeatedly railed against.

More than one year ago, in July 2004, Arthur lodged a personal Petition to the European Parliament, alleging Misfeasance by the British regulators in the regulation of Equitable Life. Arthur very much wanted to present his Petition. Now, retired solicitor Nicolas Bellord has agreed to take up Arthur’s baton and present the Petition in Brussels on 13 September, alongside another lodged by EMAG.

That Vanni Treves succeeded in mocking Arthur White at the Equitable’s AGM and manipulating Equitable members to shout Arthur down disgraces both Mr Treves and those who jeered.

This is Mr White’s fitting final exchange with Treves at the AGM:

Treves: “ONE of us is being shouted at and I'm prepared to believe it's you!

(More uproar)

White: It is you who has to control the meeting and see that there is fairness…

(More uproar)

Treves: The meeting is out of control….

White: You are a solicitor. You ought to know what the position is. You are seeking re-election and the answers you are giving fall short of professional chairing…...”

Paul Braithwaite
22 July 2005