Financial Services Complaints chief under fire

Financial Services Complaints Ltd, is a not-for-profit Dispute Resolution scheme approved by the Minister for Consumer Affairs under the Financial Service Providers and Dispute Resolution Act 2008. It was the first such scheme to be approved.

Kenneth Johnston is the chairman of FSCL and a Wellington barrister who has acted as an arbitrator and mediator in a number of commercial disputes. He is a member of LEADR’s advanced panel of mediators and a member of the AMINZ panel of mediators.

Mr Johnston has also been a member of the New Zealand Law Society's complaint committee and, is now the subject of a complaint to the Law Society that he ignored evidence of fraud and a false affidavit to allow a colleague to avoid censure.Other members of the complaints committee have also been asked to justify their decision, which allowed the lawyers and executors of a deceased estate to bankrupt a relative due an inheritance from the same estate.