MEDIATION PROPOSITION G-4

REQUESTING PARTY - TREASURER OF GARDENING

ORGANISATION
RESPONDING PARTY- CHAIRPERSON OF GARDENING
ORGANISATION.
A libel dispute arose between members of gardening organisation
.The Committee was managed by a Chairperson, who organised
events and other members of the committee and the Treasurer . A
monthly newsletter was produced by the Committee with an article
from the Chairperson. Due to ill health of the treasurer he decided to
retire from the Committee and concentrate on her health.
A ‘THANKYOU” to all her hard work over the years went out in the
newsletter. Alongside the ‘THANKYOU’ a sentence appeared which
was quite vague referring to “the accounts had to be checked through
and corrected...money was missing”.
When the treasurer contacted the chairperson about this, they advised
that the new treasurer had noticed some discrepancies and he did not
want to get the blame for anything, to observe transparency he
communicated this in the newsletter. The treasurer took issue, as
discrepancies could have meant simple mistakes to fraudulent
activities, equally as this was such a close knit community. People
could easily start making allegations out of idle gossip.
The Chairperson refused to retract the statement and issue an apology,
he advised that once a thorough investigation took place, he would
then consider an apology on his findings. By this time, months had
passed and allegations had started to accumulate.
Therefore, parties now resorted to solve their dispute outside the
court.
HIDDEN INFORMATION
1. The new treasurer has some personal enmity with the ex treasurer
of the gardening committee that is why he has given false information
for defaming the ex-treasurer.
2. In the past similar kind of discrepancies had occurred in the
accounts, but since it was minimal, the Chairperson decided it to
handle on his own. He also considered his financial condition and ill-
health.
3. The organisational accounts were being audited annually .