Mr. Joe O'Flynn:

We expressed very serious concern about the manner in which the fund had been operated without our knowledge. The union's image has been tarnished as a result of our association with a fund that the public believed was for us and not accounted for by us. Following the trustee's report there was a disciplinary hearing into the fund administrator and given the nature of the issue and its importance, I engaged an eminent senior counsel to assist us in reviewing the case. Subsequently the senior counsel, based on the evidence available to him at the time, issued a recommendation to us which we accepted. That recommendation effectively was that this was a very serious issue and that a penalty should be imposed because of its seriousness. It was deemed, however, that the ultimate penalty of dismissal was not warranted.