Investigative Journalism and Learning Hub - Letter of Demand for Bruce Copland on 7 October 2020

From:	SP52948 owner
To:	Bruce Copland
Subject:	Letter of Demand on 7Oct2020
Date:	7/10/2020, 20:23

Dear Sir,

The undersigned, without prejudice, hereby demands that you confirm or refute Lot 158 statements that:

a) You were Chairperson at AGM 2012 that was conducted in non-compliance with SSMA 1996 and SSMR 2010, which, among the other actions, allowed unfinancial owners Mr. Stan Pogorelsky and Mr. Moses Levitt to vote and be elected on the executive committee, and failed to notify owners and CTTT.

b) You acted as Chairperson from 2001 to 2015, and it those years competitive tenders for building management and strata management never occurred.

c) You had full knowledge that gas heating levies were set in 1999 to $200.00 per year (GST added on 1st of July 2000) and failed to collect them in all years until you left in 2015, and failed to represent that information to owners and CTTT.

d) You were instrumental in refusing free mediation at Fair Trading NSW three times:

SM10_1230 PK

SM11/1348 DR

SM12/1537 JR

e) You provided multiple statements to CTTT claiming that all Lot 158 submissions were false and untrue:

SCS 11/00711 on 27th of February 2011 (personal submission)

SCS 11/00711 on 27th of February 2011 (on behalf of owners corporation)

SCS 12/05845 on 12th of March 2012

SCS 12/50460 on 24th of June 2013

f) You made statement in CTTT case SCS 12/05845 that you “personally spent considerable time ensuring that all expenses are properly recorded at year end”, in spite of knowledge that inequitable reimbursements for gas and water usage to selective townhouse owners were never reported in any files given to owners.

g) You instructed BCS Strata Management to make Lot 158 document search “as inconvenient as possible” on 5th of September 2013, in spite of knowledge that he was legal member of the committee, and failed to disclose this information to CTTT.

h) You personally negotiated so-called “loyalty discount” with Mr. Greg Freeman on 10th of October 2011 without owners corporation approval or knowledge, reducing the agreed services fee from $33,499.00 + GST to $29,900.00 + GST commencing on 1st of September 2011, allowing BCS Strata Management to win contracts with SP52948 without tenders.

On 31st of January 2013, upon pressure from Lot 158, you secretly admitted in email to Mr. Paul Banoob and Peter Bone that SP52948 did not receive any financial benefits.

i) You had full knowledge of unfinancial owners for gas heating and presented nine nominees for the committee on 16th of October 2012, including Mr. Moses Levitt and Mr. Stan Pogorelsky, preventing Lot 158 from acting as committee member with duty of care.

j) You had full knowledge that BCS Strata Management and Solicitor Adrian Mueller were deliberately involved in the following actions and refused to disclose it to CTTT, hindering their investigations:

• Illegal representation by Solicitor Adrian Mueller for strata plan SP52948 in Fair Trading case SM12/1537JR, CTTT case SCS 12/32675, and CTTT case SCS 12/50640 which by November 2014 alone caused losses to owners corporation in amount of $62,218.77,
• Four fraudulent insurance claims for Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s legal costs in non-existent “CTTT defense of Lot 3”, amounting to $28,511.24 (GST incl) paid to strata plan SP52948 in 2012 and 2013, where CHU Insurance forced the owners corporation to repay $8,800.00 in 2017,
• Creation of false statements in BCS Strata Management strata manager’s Statutory Declaration to CTTT on 19th of April 2013,
• Creation of false statements in BCS Strata Management strata manager’s Affidavit to District Court on 31st of January 2014,
• Strata plan SP52948 paying more than 70% increase in insurance premiums in 2012 due to high risks with legal claims for Solicitor Adrian Mueller, disregarding warnings by AJG Insurance Broker and CHU Insurance on 1st of August 2012,
• Secret change of insurance policy to allow Solicitor’s legal expense claims on 1st of August 2012,
• You were aware of Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s suggestion to use insurance claims for his legal costs on 2nd July 2012,
• You were aware of SP52948 not having funds to pay $14,056.90 for creditor code 69633 and Mr. Paul Banoob authorising urgent injection of funds from MBL account in the sum of $50,000.00 on the same date,
• You were participant of illegal committee meeting on 9th of July 2012 as confirmed in CTTT case 12/32675 one year later,
• Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s Standard Costs Agreement provided to CHU Insurance on 28th of August 2012 which did not have signature of behalf of owners corporation,
• Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s Standard Costs Agreement provided to CTTT on 29th of January 2013 which did not have signature on behalf of owners corporation,
• You were recipient of email dated 18th of February 2012, which stated that Lot 158 must not get copies of strata files,
• You were recipient of email dated 15th of April 2013, when Solicitor Adrian Mueller asked BCS Strata Management to produce signed copy of his Standard Costs Agreement and run paper meeting to approve decisions of alleged meeting held on 9th of July 2012,
• You requested urgent paper meeting on 16th of April 2013, knowing that Fair Trading NSW mediation case SM12/1537JR wad closed on 27th of March 2013:

  “Please sign and date your voting paper as soon as possible. Despite the proposed date of the meeting we must have a clear majority as soon as possible to allow Adrian Mueller to rebut the allegations that he was never appointed to represent us at CTTT.

  Please also note in whichever way that you wish that the decision in the minutes of the last paper meeting was defeating a motion to have someone represent us at a MEDIATION at DOFT and not a hearing at CTTT. This is a confusion caused by Peter mixing up the two issues in the notice.

  I have attached a copy of my voting paper for your information and for Peter to record my vote.”

• You confirmed that Solicitor Adrian Mueller was not engaged to represent owners corporation in CTTT SCS 12/50460 on 2nd of September 2013,
• Failed to act upon Lot 158 complaints and evidence since 2012, including multiple offers for free mediation at Fair Trading NSW, and provided misleading statements to CTTT, knowing they were untrue,
• Allowed unfinancial owner to vote and be elected as members of the committee,
• Hid information about many owners voting against Solicitor Adrian Mueller’s engagement as per summary on 15th of May 2013,
• You sent email to BCS Strata Management and Solicitor Adrian Mueller on 4th of January 2013 stating that “Finally I believe that this matter has now separated into two parts - one being an attack on the MA and it may be important to ensure that Raine & Horne have independent legal advice as it is not the job of the OC to defend the actions of the MA”,

k) At AGM 2014, you voted against Motion 38 to authorise Office of Legal Service Commissioner to conduct their investigation in regards to professional misconduct of Solicitor Adrian Mueller.

l) You failed to respond to issue of summonses in CTTT case 12/32675 on 27th of February 2013.

m) You were given enough information by Lot 158 through BCS Strata Management to raise your awareness of risks by engaging Solicitor Adrian Mueller and related legal parties since 2012.

n) On 16th of July 2017 you were made aware of CHU Insurance request for legal cost recovery in amount of $8,800.00 and provided comments to Waratah Strata Management about it.

o) You became aware of Police Event E65804633 and offered to help with investigations, as per Waratah Strata Management email on 13th of April 2018 who provided Police with your mobile number 0418 879 442.

(“the Action”)

Please note that if representatives of Lot 158 commence legal proceedings in order to require your performance of the Action (items listed above), this letter will be tendered in court as evidence of your failure to attempt to resolve this matter.

Further, you may be liable for any court costs, lawyer fees and damages, including punitive damages.

You might want to contact a lawyer to discuss your legal right and responsibilities.

Your sincerely,