The Offset Alpine fire was a 1993 fire that destroyed a

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

printing plant owned by the company Offset Alpine Printing Ltd. Investigations of the incident by the police and by the

Australian Securities & Investments Commission The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...

spanned over ten years, amid suspicions that the printing plant was burnt down as part of an

insurance fraud Insurance fraud is any intentional act committed to deceive or mislead an insurance company during the application or claims process, or the wrongful denial of a legitimate claim by an insurance company. It occurs when a claimant knowingly attem ...

. It also gained attention because of the high profile of individuals involved.

Background

In 1992 Stroika, an

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

listed company controlled by Rene Rivkin, bought the Offset Alpine printing firm from

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

for $15.3 million. On Christmas Eve, 1993, the firm's sole asset, the printing plant, was destroyed by fire. It had been insured at replacement value ($53.2 million), more than three times its purchase price, and shares skyrocketed. The fire was blamed on a staff barbecue, but suspicions of arson have persisted. In March 1995, in Rene Rivkin's investment column in ''The Canberra Times'', he recommended purchases of shares in 'my very own company, Offset Alpine Group,' with 'profit up from 4.6¢ a share to 13.8¢ a share, an interim dividend up to 100 per cent from 2¢ a share to 4¢ a share.' The share price in October 1995 climbed 29c to $2.30 after shareholders accepted a $2.30-a-share takeover offer from Kalamazoo Holdings. Known investors included: * Rene Rivkin, a Sydney stockbroker and entrepreneur *

Graham Richardson Graham Frederick Richardson (born 27 September 1949) is an Australian former Labor Party politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 1983 to 1994 and served as a Cabinet Minister in both the Hawke and Keating governments. He is c ...

, a former

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Senator and associate of Kerry Packer *

Eddie Obeid Edward Moses Obeid (born 25 October 1943) is a retired Australian politician and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister for ...

, a Labor politician * Trevor Kennedy, a businessman and former Packer executive *

Rodney Adler Rodney Stephen Adler (born 19 August 1959) is an Australian whose family founded the FAI Insurances group, of which he became chief executive in 1989, and which was at one stage Australia's third largest general insurer. Adler became a director ...

, an entrepreneur *

Sean Howard Sean Martin Howard is an Australian entrepreneur, founder of OzEmail, at one time Australia's largest Internet company. In the 1980s Howard founded '' Australian Personal Computer'', Australia's top-selling computer magazine. He also develope ...

, a businessman and one of the founders of internet company

OzEmail OzEmail Pty Limited was a major Internet service provider (ISP) in Australia, until it was acquired by iiNet on 28 February 2005. History In the early 1980s, Sean Howard was the editor of the '' Australian Personal Computer'' magazine and sub ...

Bill Hayden William George Hayden (23 January 1933 – 21 October 2023) was an Australian politician who served as the 21st governor-general of Australia from 1989 to 1996. He was Leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1977 to 198 ...

, a former Labor leader and Governor-General of Australia * Ray Martin, a television personality who appeared on the Packers'

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

The

(ASIC) commenced an investigation into the ownership of a 38% stake in the company via secret Swiss bank accounts. Rivkin denied any knowledge of the ownership of the stake at the time, but in 2003 ASIC discovered that he himself, in partnership with Richardson and Kennedy, had been using Swiss bank accounts to trade in Offset Alpine and other companies. Rivkin committed suicide in 2005, before the investigation was completed, after being jailed on an unrelated

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

matter. In January 2006 after a two-year legal battle, ASIC gained access to the relevant Swiss banking records. In September 2006 it was revealed that Richardson had almost $1.5 million in Swiss accounts which he had failed to declare to the

Australian Taxation Office The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Taxation in Australia, Australian federal taxation ...

. In 2010 ASIC discontinued its investigation and ceased the provision of legal funds for court cases in Switzerland, where a Swiss bank refused to disclose the details of Rivkin's financial records (Swiss authorities also refused to take action against the bank). An amount of $A11 million that was held in Swiss bank accounts remains outstanding upon the closure of the investigation in April 2013.

Background

References

Further reading