LANDERYOU: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE E.G OF “WHAT NOT TO DO”

Kathleen Clothier LLB MBA, of firm Governance 4 Pty Ltd, made a presentation titled ‘Non-Profit Governance for the 21st Century’ in 2005.

In the various examples of poor corporate governance in the not for profit sector, Andrew Landeryou featured prominently.

Landeryou of course was instrumental in managing a range of not for profit firms, including MUSU and IQ Corp. He was so successful that he led both organizations into insolvency.

Clothier said that:

• Governance is about integrity, values and ethics
• Governance is about skills and competence – as individuals, as a team and as an organisation
• Governance is also about good governance ‘bones’ – structure and systems.

Clotheir wrote of Landeryou:

Melbourne University Student Union Inc & Andrew Landeryou

• “Over 16 days of hearings, the court heard that Mr Landeryou was behind at least five deals struck between the union and companies that were associated with Mr Landeryou, who was MUSU president in 1991, and other former union presidents.
• The deals included a $46 million agreement that committed MUSU to leasing student accommodation for 20 years.
• Mr McVeigh (the liquidator) said he had referred to Victoria Police, matters including allegations of conspiracy to defraud, forgery, and obtaining an advantage by deception.
• He told the Court that his investigations had uncovered contracts being awarded without appropriate approvals, falsification of records, conflicts of interest, and possible impropriety in student elections.
• He also said this week that he had concerns about possible breaches of the Corporations Act relating to the use of phoney directors and forged signatures”.
• "This insolvency has been difficult because what has been done has been systematic," he said. "It's almost a cultural corruption of the organisation, so we don't have one single person coming along and going, 'I will rip some money out of this'.
• "It has required the co-operation of a large number of people.“

Now, test what we know of Landeryou against Clotheir’s statements about corporate governance.