The Offset Alpine fire was a 1993 fire that destroyed a Sydney printing plant owned by the company Offset Alpine Printing Ltd. Investigations of the incident by the police and by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission spanned over ten years, amid suspicions that the printing plant was burnt down as part of an insurance fraud. It also gained attention because of the high profile of individuals involved.
In 1992 a company controlled by colourful businessman Rene Rivkin bought the Offset Alpine printing firm from media magnate and Australia's then richest man Kerry Packer for A$15.3 million and floated it on the stock exchange. On Christmas Eve, 1993, the firm's sole asset, the printing plant, was destroyed by fire. It had been insured at replacement value (A$53.2 million), more than three times its purchase price, and the share price skyrocketed. The fire was blamed on a staff barbecue, but suspicions of arson have persisted.
Known investors included:
- Stockbroker and Entrepreneur Rene Rivkin.
- Former Labor Senator and Packer associate, Graham Richardson
- Businessman and former Packer executive, Trevor Kennedy
- Entrepreneur Rodney Adler
- Businessman Sean Howard, one of the founders of internet company OzEmail
- Former Labor leader and Governor-General, Bill Hayden
- Television personality Ray Martin (who appeared on the Packers' Nine Network)
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (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 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 Tax Office.
Lingering suspicions have also linked the case to the 1995 death of Caroline Byrne, girlfriend of Rivkin's chauffeur, Gordon Wood, who in 2008 was found to be guilty of her murder. He was later acquitted by the Court of Appeals in 2012.
In 2010 ASIC discontinued its investigation.
Read more about Offset Alpine Fire: Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words alpine and/or fire:
“The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, ‘mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation in a case like the present.”
—William Lloyd Garrison (1805–1879)