Tuesday,  July 31, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 017 • 43 of 56 •  Other Editions

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• "With our members unfortunately experiencing critical water needs in the face of a crushing drought, we are extremely pleased that Lewis & Clark is able to begin producing water just in the nick of time," said Board Chairman Red Arndt, of Luverne. "This project has been an enormous undertaking. Words cannot express the range of emotions of finally reaching this point. ... July 30 is truly a historic day for Lewis & Clark."
• The $462 million project is not expected to be finished for several years, and federal funding for upcoming construction is uncertain due to budget cuts.
• "We continue to work tirelessly to ensure the remaining nine members are connected as soon as possible," Arndt said.
• A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the treatment plant is scheduled for Aug. 21 -- the

nine-year anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Water System groundbreaking.
•

Criminals abuse New Zealand's liberal company laws
NICK PERRY,Associated Press

• WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- When American Jeffery Lowrance pleaded guilty this month to wire fraud and money laundering after running a $25 million Ponzi scheme, he was just the latest in a long list of criminals to take advantage of liberal company laws in New Zealand.
• Like those before him, he found that about $130 and a little online paperwork let him set up a shell company in New Zealand without stepping foot in the country or having any financial presence. He registered First Capital Savings & Loan to an Auckland address but ran his scheme from Panama.
• The World Bank ranks New Zealand as the easiest place in the world to set up a business, a point of pride for the island nation, which seeks to encourage trade and investment. But the system is open to abuse.
• In an alarming case two years ago, a New Zealand shell company, SP Trading, leased an airplane that was seized in Thailand while carrying 35 tons of rocket-propelled grenades, surface-to-air missiles and other weaponry. The plane had picked up the cargo in North Korea and was headed for Iran. The crew, four Kazahks and a Belarusian, were incarcerated and charged with possessing weapons.
• Soon after that, New Zealand's Companies Office set up risk-profiling teams to scour the company register for suspect companies. Since 2010, they've found 2,600 illegitimate companies, and have been de-listing companies that don't comply with rules at the rate of more than 1,000 per month. Yet with more than 560,000 compa

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