What's stopping the dopes in Brooklyn playing hardball, closing down every major asset and siphoning off the vast majority of its money in Australia to the mother ship?
Will Jehovah`s Witnesses join with other religions in Compensation Payouts ?
by smiddy 30 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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Vidiot
freddo - "What's stopping the dopes in Brooklyn... siphoning off the vast majority of its money...?"
Already done, from what we've gathered.
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shepherdless
What's stopping the dopes in Brooklyn playing hardball, closing down every major asset and siphoning off the vast majority of its money in Australia to the mother ship?
They have 800 congregations in Aust. That probably equates to around 400 Kingdom Halls, mostly in urban areas. They are probably worth A$ 500k each, probably more, so A$ 200 million total, or more. Title to each would still be in the name of the Aust entity. There is probably a trust deed involved, for each KH, but that may not be effective in protecting them from creditors. (This is a complicated area, but Google "tracing remedy equity" or "constructive trust".)
It is one thing for your local small business to play hardball, close shop, burn the books and restart somewhere else. It is not really feasible for a multinational to do the same, unless they want to abandon Australia altogether, and even then, it is problematic.
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Crazyguy
They'll fight it tooth and nail and when they loose they still won't pay, just like in San Diego.
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zeb
Hell will freeze first.
Until the governments pass laws pinning wt to the wire then the wt will pay NOTHING.
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LoveUniHateExams
I agree with Zeb and Crazyguy.
The key is for government to make the WTS pay compensation, no ifs or buts.
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Vidiot
zeb - "Hell will freeze first."
A lot of people said that about Trump's election.
zeb - "Until the governments pass laws pinning WT to the wire then the WT will pay NOTHING."
Question is, would a Trump government pass laws that'd pin the WT to the wire?
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zeb
Vidiot;
I cant speak for Mr T but ...asking ..such recalcitrant groups as the wt to pay up is letting them off the hook. But I am glad that the wt was lumped in with other offending groups.
My gut says
- the wt will have a fire sale of kingdom halls and other assets and send the money to 'mother' in the US leaving an impoverished office in Australia crying broke but left to handle the matter and the victims here without any compensation.
- And/or depending how the compensation matters are set up the wt will drag out any process of payment following the wt standard pattern of beat the victim down.
But what should happen here in Australia at least is keep all politicians out of it and
- the ARC should decide the amount,' invoice' that amount to be paid as directly affected that is an actual victim, (set amount) and a victim in the second instance (set amount) as a parent, sibling and present that to the wt and give them one business week to come up with the money or face contempt of court charges.
and Mr T? Now that the electoral dust is beginning to settle I would like to see him set up an equivalent inquiry to the Australian Royal Commission to hear from victims in the United States and its territories.
I would ask the ARC to seriously consider the use of trusts to protect the victims compensation. -
zeb
Please, any positive comments are entirely welcome here. Thanks.
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shepherdless
Hi Zeb, I don't agree (but I am not the one who gave you a down vote).
On another thread I stated I didn't think Watchtower could just abandon the Aust branch. The value of the Kingdom Halls total a lot more than all the likely payouts. (I won't set out the maths again.)
Further, the ARC can only make recommendations. It can't make laws or issue judgments in relation to any particular case. However, the Australian Govt is clearly active, and it seems there is bi-partisan support to act on any recommendations.
I think that by far the most likely result is that Watchtower very quietly joins the compensation scheme. It is the cheapest option available for them.