The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce: More Convincing Evidence
It Continues to Perpetuate Unlawful – Sidewinder Report Documented
– Chinese Interests and Thus Must be Custodianized
© 2010 Brad Kempo B.A. LL.B.
Barrister & Solicitor
The edification of Canada’s largest financial institutions continues to produce valuable evidence on which the coalition can base its strategies to effect reform, accountability and demilitarization. With senior counsel contacted beginning in early December 2009 and provided the evidence and by early February 2010 most have replied or totally ignored the Custodian Chief Executive, indicia of non-cooperation and hostility, the proof is in which banks are to be custodianized to force the Chinada complicit and loyal into insolvency.
The CIBC is paradigmatic of what is to be done to attract the coalition’s full attention for the purposes of custodianization. While there was nothing about the couple months delay between first contact and reply, the latter certainly demonstrates the executive of the financial institution want to be counted as adverse in interest to coalition intentions.
Michael Capatides, General Counsel and Senior Executive Vice-President, referred the matter to his colleague, Andrea Nalyzytz, Vice-President and Associate General Counsel. In a call during the first week of February 2010 she stated she would review the introductory correspondence and scheduled a telephone call the following morning. At the appointed time the Custodian Chief was advised by her secretary the matter had been referred to the Director of Executive Client Relations. That was originally perceived as a major snub, since what was delivered to the bank had nothing to do with customer issues. But it was soon apparent why Clarence Layne was chosen to deliver the final assessment. Like had happened so many times in the past, instead of a full, impassioned and intellectually enlightened discussion he was badgering, engaged in character assassination and sought to take full command and control of the conversation in a way that prevented the Custodian Chief from articulating anything. The only way to describe his demeanour: a raging bulldog on steroids.
Believing there was a gatekeeper mechanism preventing the board from being edified, the Custodian Chief contacted the President and CEO, Gerald McCaughy, directly; having gotten no satisfaction at stage one. After speaking to his assistant Stacy the phone rang and it was Clarence again; who repeated the approach he took hours earlier. “Do what you have to do” was one of his representations.
The letter delivered to the CEO was the standard 20-pager delivered to everyone in the private sector (1, 2, 3); with this added conclusion:
The first attempt at edifying your board was taken in December 2009. Michael Capatides was provided the foregoing and chose a resolution that is not in the best interests of the bank or the country. Consequently, this step of bringing it to your direct attention is warranted.
You are likely aware that one of your large minority shareholders divested himself of all his stock in January 2005.
Li’s CIBC sale may be sign of disenchantment; Is Husky Energy Next?
by Barbara Shecter
Financial Post
January 14, 2005
Industry watchers were split yesterday on what caused Li Ka-Shing, the Hong Kong Billionaire, to sell his 5% stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for $1.2 billion, which he intends to donate to charitable causes through his foundations.
Some seemed willing to accept the charity and estate planning explanation offered by those close to 76-year-old MR. Li.
But others concluded that the move is a sign of his disenchantment with a retrenched and isolated CIBC, and a possible signal that Mr. Li is considering selling other holdings in this country, rumours have surfaced over the past couple of years that Mr. Li may sell his controlling stake in Husky Energy Inc.. The most recent rumours peaked last fall.
Jettisoning his stake in CIBC is “one more piece of information” suggesting that control of Husky may be up for grabs, said Paul Hancock, a portfolio manager at IG Investment Management Ltd., whose Canadian Equity fund was the sixth-largest shareholder of Husky after Mr. Li at the end of September. “There’s a chance we could see something over the next few months,” said Mr. Hancock, but he cautioned that the speculation MR. Li will sell his Husky stake has been denied repeatedly by company management.
Sources say the Chinese government, which is interested in exercising control over more of its energy needs, is a possible buyer.
“There’s a natural connection there,” said one source with close ties to the Li family, noting that Mr. Li is Asia’s richest and most influential businessman.
The Li family’s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. in Hong Kong is the world’s biggest port operator. Its other businesses include telecommunications, property and hotels, retail and manufacturing, and energy. MR. Li’s personal wealth is estimated to be more than US $12-billion.
His relationship with CIBC dates to the lender’s backing of his early ventures in the 1970s, and has included several joint venture financing projects.
Michael Goldberg, a banking analyst with Desjardins Securities, called the explanation of yesterday’s share sale “sugar-coated”, and said it marks the end of a mutually beneficial relationship,” the analyst said.
Quentin Broad, an analyst with CIBC World Markets, said the outright said of MR. Lis shares was not the only way to use the stock to supply cash to charitable causes. “The shareholdings provide[d] cashflows from dividends of $44.2-million annualy, which would provide the most foundations with substantial cashflow”.
Mr. Li’s family was one quite active on the Canadian business scene and their interests spanned brokerage houses to real estate in Vancouver and Toronto.
CIBC shares traded lower following the sale, closing at $69.91, off 2% or $1.26. But analysts noted that the quick sale of all the shares – CIBC said it would buy up to six million of the 17 million put up for sale by Mr. Li – kept the stock from declining further.
This Chinese individual was invited by the Trudeau government to Canada in the early 1970s to establish a corporate and political beachhead. He is one of the primary parties responsible for what is now an international matter.
Consequently, the bank is on the evidence complicit in embedding the kinds of Chinese interests that my clients object to and have been seeking to reverse for a half decade now. It is not surprising given this circumstance for the legal department to resolve the matter in the way it was. The non-cooperative tone of the final exchange is to my clients ‘guilty conscience’ evidence. Plus, stating that the bank will wait to hear from the RCMP and the courts belies a reliance on institutions that perpetuated the embedding of unlawful Chinese interests in the fabric of Canada’s political system and economy.
Coming in to the office of President and CEO in August ’05 places you out of the environment of involvement; and my clients encourage you to use that lack of complicity to protect the bank from what will most certainly be serious consequences if there’s a failure to cooperate with my clients.
There is a second stage of the edification process, involving sensitive and classified information that cannot be delivered by documentary form, but will be communicated verbally at a time that is convenient to you.
That wasn’t the end of the matter. During the edification of Canada’s investment firms – undeniably an industry that helped embed unlawful Chinese interests in the fabric of the country’s economy – the Custodian Chief discovered where else the Chairman of CIBC, Charles Sirois, hung his hat: the Montreal firms Propulsion Ventures Inc. and Telesystem Ltd.. On Thursday the Custodian Chief introduced the coalition’s matters to Corporate Secretary and lawyer Michael Cordeau. He was polite and receptive; and was advised the 20-page introduction would be delivered by e-mail forthwith. The conclusion of that letter states:
The first attempt at edifying the CIBC board was taken in December 2009. Michael Capatides was provided the foregoing and on February 4, 2010 chose a resolution that is not in the best interests of the bank, the country or Canada’s neighbour and allies. Consequently, the step was taken of bringing these matters directly to the attention of Mr. McCaughy.
Coming in to the office of President and CEO in August ’05 places him out of the environment of executive involvement with the foregoing; and my clients encouraged him in correspondence delivered yesterday to use that lack of involvement to mitigate the bank’s exposure to serious consequences.
You are likely aware through briefings upon your chairmanship or general public information that one of the bank’s large minority shareholders divested himself of all his stock in January 2005.
Li’s CIBC sale may be sign of disenchantment
Is Husky Energy Next?
by Barbara Shecter
Financial Post
January 14, 2005
[...]
This Chinese individual, the PRC’s wealthiest and listed in Forbe’s top ten list of the world’s richest for many years, was invited by the Trudeau government to Canada in the early 1970s to establish a corporate and political beachhead; which by the end of the decade evolved into de facto governance. He is one of the primary parties directly and indirectly responsible for systemic corruption, criminality and human rights violations. He is identified by name in The Sidewinder Report (supra).
In their collective wisdom my clients chose to keep Canada’s violations of international law and the full extent of China’s Soviet-style imperialist ambitions out of the world press, choosing to work in a specially created diplomatic back-channel to defend against the expansion of this sphere of control and influence. The ramifications of public disclosure are catastrophic in many ways. During the last 2½ years my office created a “limited transparency” environment in Canada. It was hoped indigenous reform and accountability would be triggered. The collective awareness of the foregoing created during that initiative did not, and pursuant to international law my clients now have standing to materially intervene in the otherwise sovereign affairs of the nation.
CIBC is on the evidence complicit in embedding the kinds of Chinese interests that my clients object to and have been seeking to reverse for a half decade now. It is not surprising given the foregoing for the bank’s legal department to resolve the matter in the way it did. The non-cooperative, arguably hostile, tone of the final exchange is to my clients ‘guilty conscience’ evidence.
There are some dimensions of the factual matrix I communicated to Mr. Cordeau today as part of the introduction. I trust he will advise you of what they are so you can make informed decisions for Propulsion, Telesystem and the bank going forward.
Additionally, there is a second stage of the edification process involving sensitive and classified information that cannot be delivered by documentary form, but will be communicated verbally within the month. In the interim your due diligence and preliminary consultations with colleagues and counterparts in the banking and investment industries will produce more information and evidence that will help in your deliberations. Beginning in November, for example, I began contacting senior counsel at all the major banks and the Bank of Canada; with the objective of triggering a full discussion and debate. You will be able to take advantage of what’s transpired since then; the fruits of which will expedite your review.
My clients seek cooperation and where there is the opposite more attention and resources will be directed. While CIBC’s legal department has prejudiced the bank’s standing in my clients’ eyes, they trust your review and discussions with Mr. McCaughy et al. will reverse that position and your group and my clients can work collaboratively to address Canada’s political and corporate dysfunctionalities. And it is hoped Propulsion and Telesystem will review internal policies and practices to ensure compliance with domestic and international law.
On Friday there had been no confirmation of receipt of the e-mail. So a call was made to the company secretary, Catherine St. Louis, and she provided her e-mail address. Later that day she indicated she didn’t receive it and there was no e-mail in the company’s regular e-mail account. On Monday, February 8, 2010, an e-mail was collectively sent to all three e-mail accounts. And when a phone call was made to Catherine it was discovered that the Chinada security apparatus has installed a phone sabotaging technology which prevented the Custodian Chief from even getting through to the firm.
The only conclusion is that the bulldog approach and this pro-active sabotage constitute ‘guilty conscience’ evidence; and proves the bank continues to perpetuate unlawful Chinese interests notwithstanding Li Ka-Shing’s divestiture. Consequently, the coalition will custodianize the bank and force its complicit and loyal into insolvency because they refused to give up the last democratic fiefdom.
