Coert Coetzee on his book cover

"Throwing out the baby with the bath water" is a familiar saying which Wikipedia defines as:  "an idiomatic expression used to suggest an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad, in other words, rejecting the essential along with the inessential."

It is an expression that perfectly describes the current newsflow around the TREOC Group of companies, in which the essential and the good is mired by misinterpretations, misconceptions and assumptions. This is not entirely unexpected when it comes to a company that challenges conventional norms and outdated perceptions.

So what is the truth about TREOC?

Previously a financial reporter for the Rapport newspaper, I (Founder, The TREOC Group) was deeply disillusioned by the operations of giant financial institutions who continue to sell ordinary, hardworking South Africans insurance and retirement products, which – by their own admission - will not result in a financially independent retirement. In fact, industry experts agree that 95% of people who are contributing to pension and retirement funds will not be able to retire.

I set myself a life task to find an alternative that would help ordinary South Africans to create true wealth and save countless people from a bleak and poverty-ridden retirement. I bought my  first investment property in 1983 and after 15 years of witnessing the power of property investment to create wealth, became a full time property investor. In 1998, I made a "discovery" that changed both my life and my investment methods completely - a way for ordinary people to invest in property on a continuous basis without spending their own money, involving exceptionally low risk, yet offering the potential for above-average returns. I packaged this discovery into The TREOC Way and in 2003, started to train people to apply my tried-and-tested methods to create a comfortable retirement and wealth for generations to come.

With the conviction that comes only from witnessing The TREOC Way producing consistent results time and time again, I made it my personal mission to provide South Africans with the crucial wake-up call to change their mindsets and financial habits, even if it meant being labelled as controversial and outspoken. I published my first book "Let there be light on wealth creation" in 2007, followed by "Rich Mind... Rich Man" in 2009 and my recently released and most controversial book "See the light or see the hole" in an effort to share the financial secrets no-one is ever taught at school or university - the very secrets that make the difference between being rich and poor.

The TREOC Group grew rapidly as more and more people "saw the light" and today TREOC Limited, an unlisted public company, is undoubtedly one of the most inspiring success stories in the personal wealth creation market.

It is an international investor club with more than 40 000 members, providing services in investment education, risk management, financing, legal services, accounting and property management. Asset management forms a large part of the activities of the group and over the last six years, it has created assets worth billions for its clients, of which R4.5 billion in assets are under direct management of the group. The assets under management consist mainly of residential properties, which positions TREOC among the country's largest asset managers in this asset class.

TREOC Limited is also an investment company, investing in properties and other independent companies, which are operated independently and are managed by independent directors, but were, as a sign of good faith, allowed to use the trademark "TREOC." The fact that the companies were allowed to use the trade name "TREOC" did not in any way imply or involve management control. In retrospect, this may have been a mistake, something all businesses make at some point or another.

It certainly was the case in terms of two companies in which TREOC Limited invested. The company was a minority shareholder (36%) in Treoc Finance, which had been incorrectly implicated in the liquidation of a certain Surf Trust, and a minority shareholder (34%) in Treoc Capital, which was liquidated at the beginning of the year.

While TREOC Limited was only a minority shareholder in these companies with no management control, and I did not serve in any management or executive position in these companies, TREOC and Coetzee have been implicated in these liquidations through misleading media reports.

Treoc Finance was implicated during the sequestration hearing into a certain Surf Trust in 2009. The Surf Trust was owned by a young investor, who had obtained multiple properties, apparently by providing the banks with fraudulent documentation. While this young man purportedly followed the TREOC Way, the mere fact that the trust was liquidated proves that this was in fact not so. Beyond the indisputable fact that The TREOC Way in no way advocates deceit or fraud, it is an infallible method of property investment - and the reasons why that trust was liquidated simply goes to show that this young investor did not follow the tried-and tested TREOC Way. This is further evident in the fact that TREOC's independent partners, Topaz Trust Accounting, manages the accounts of 3388 trusts, of which only six - or 0,18% - have been liquidated since the founding of the company in 2006.

In terms of Treoc Capital, all the shareholders - including TREOC Limited as a minority shareholder - agreed to the liquidation of the company and TREOC Limited was in fact one of only 13 creditors of the company. Among the accusations raised were that Treoc Capital operated as a bank and that it was in fact a pyramid scheme.

The truth of the matter is that Treoc Capital's management provided written proof to the liquidation committee showing that the National Credit Regulator investigated its business and confirmed in writing that they had found the operations to be in order.

Treoc Capital was also not a pyramid scheme - all 13 creditors were friends, acquaintences or  clients of the company's founder and directors. The liquidation of the company thus affected only a closed, private group of individuals and never members of the public. In line with the requirements of the Companies Act and the King III Code on Corporate Governance, business rescue measures were put in place when the company found itself in financial difficulty, which unfortunately did not succeed in averting the liquidation.

While neither TREOC nor I were involved in the management of either of these independently operated companies, the link to the TREOC name has resulted in an erroneous and even slanderous assumptions and misinterpretations that TREOC or I were involved. To protect the name of TREOC and my own name, I immediately tasked my legal team to investigate any possible involvement or responsibility on TREOC's part. The legal team found that all allegations and inferences were untrue and that the allegations and accusations by the liquidators and the media were unfounded. Indeed, had any ground for further investigations existed, TREOC and I would certainly have been subjected to further investigations, but none have materialised.  

While legal action against the people and organisation who are spreading these slanderous untruths  remains an option, I have decided to step up to the plate and, in August 2011, assumed the role of Chief Executive of TREOC Limited, taking up the challenge of repairing the damage done by the slanderous accusations, misinterpretations and half-truths.

I have set as my goals the refinement of the corporate governance measures in place to ensure members receive only quality services and products, and the expansion of the assets under management, paving the way for the company to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in the near future.   

TREOC has nothing to hide, and the allegations and inferences made against us have been no more than lies and slander. It will, however, not deter us from doing everything possible to help ordinary South Africans protect their money from the giant financial corporations and to empower them to create real wealth. The TREOC Way works and we have thousands of members who will attest to this fact! I invite journalists and all other interested parties to attend our seminars, to contact me personally with their questions, to request copies of my books and to allow us an opportunity to show you why we are so passionate and so committed to letting the light of wealth creation shine on everyone.

By Coert Coetzee.

Chief Executive - Treoc Limited
Treoc.com