News Release

Released: July 20, 1993  Contact: Ron Messent  660-4800

The British Columbia Securities Commission today released its decision in the matter of Mervin Derrick Holoboff, Jane Elizabeth Holoboff and Katheryn Elizabeth Louise McKinney.

The Commission made orders restricting the right of Mervin Holoboff and Katheryn McKinney to participate in the securities market in British Columbia for 25 years. The orders remove their exemptions under the Securities Act, effectively removing their right to trade in securities. An exception permits them to trade through registered dealers to be identified to Commission staff. The orders also prohibit each of them from acting as a director or officer of an issuer, other than a private issuer wholly owned by them.

In 1989, the Alberta Securities Commission ordered that Mervin Holoboff and Katheryn McKinney cease trading in securities in Alberta and removed their exemptions under the Alberta Securities Act for life. Mervin Holoboff's wife Jane Holoboff was ordered to cease trading in securities in Alberta and had her exemptions removed for 10 years.

The evidence from the Alberta proceedings showed that Mervin Holoboff and Katheryn McKinney engaged in securities trading that was contrary to the Alberta Act and extremely abusive of elderly, unsophisticated investors. Their pattern of conduct was to gain the confidence of investors through home improvement work done on the investors' homes and then to raise money from the investors for issuers controlled by Mervin Holoboff and Katheryn McKinney. They did this by selling securities to the investors through trading that was characterized by misrepresentation. The investors suffered substantial financial losses from these investments.

In 1990, Mervin Holoboff and Katheryn McKinney were each convicted under the Alberta Securities Act of seven counts of trading without registration and seven counts of distributing securities without having filed a prospectus. These convictions were based on the same facts as the Alberta

Securities Commission proceedings. Mervin Holoboff and Katheryn McKinney were each sentenced to fines totalling $12,600 or, in default of payment, to imprisonment for 21 months.

In 1990, the Saskatchewan Securities Commission issued notice of a hearing to consider whether to make orders against Mervin Holoboff and Katheryn McKinney. The notice alleged that they had traded in securities in Saskatchewan without being registered, had obtained funds from certain residents of Saskatchewan as a result of false representations concerning the securities and had converted the funds obtained to their own use. The hearing has not been held.

On April 15, 1992, Mervin Holoboff applied for a business licence in the City of Victoria for Intex Home Improvements Ltd., which was described in the application as a "Building Contractor, Siding Fencing & Stone".

The Commission concluded, "On the basis of the evidence of their past conduct in Alberta and of their intention to carry on business in British Columbia, we find that Mervin Holoboff and McKinney represent a threat to investors in this province."

The Commission found no evidence that Jane Holoboff has moved to British Columbia with Mervin Holoboff or that she has any involvement with the proposed business in Victoria. Accordingly, no order has been made against her at this time.

The British Columbia Securities Commission is a provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts.

Copies of the Commission's decision (6 pages) may be obtained in person at 1100 - 865 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia.