In all the excitement surrounding the Kilarnee and Amerind cases, similar questions about rights of indemnity and exoneration as they apply to trustees have been somewhat overlooked in the bankruptcy context, but the issues have been ventilated, most recently in Lane (Trustee), in the matter of Lee (Bankrupt) v Commissioner of Taxation (No 3) [2018] FCA 1572 (19 October 2018). This one involves a preference paid…
Eat my spray might be the boast after BPS Recovery secured the Liquidator’s Trophy at this year’s Chartered Accountants ANZ Annual Sailing Regatta hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) last Thursday. The win, by BPS partner Max Prentice’s Ticket of Leave (ToL), wrenches back the coveted title from Paul Billingham, who had relieved 2016 winner Prentice of the trophy when the CYCA commodore…
David John Leigh, the suspended liquidator who’s alleged to have purloined up to $800,000, could be preparing to enter a guilty plea when he returns to the Brisbane Magistrate’s Court on November 2. In September Leigh, 56, of Sherwood in Brisbane was summonsed to appear on three counts of dishonestly gaining a pecuniary benefit in excess of $100,000 on each count on July 25, 2017,…
A stoush with the Commissioner of Police, employing one’s referrer, having to include the terms of that employment in a supplementary DIRRI – United Security Enterprises Pty Ltd has plenty for administrators Shumit Banerjee and Jason Porter to sink their teeth into. The SV Partners pair were appointed VAs back on August 31 after being contacted by the company’s accountant Jai Menon. If that surname looks familiar…
There’s an intriguing little backstory to last week’s headline event that saw a judge deny Worrells partner Graeme Beattie the role of liquidator of Bux Global Pty Ltd. Beattie accepted the appointment on October 4 following a referral in September from Jirsch Sutherland partner Daniel Civil. What he didn’t know was that on the same day in the Federal Court in Perth, orders were made appointing Ferrier Hodgson’s…
Mackay Goodwin’s Domenic Calabretta has fought off a bid to replace him with Ferrier Hodgson partner Robyn Duggan but the Minutes of the September 24, 2018 meeting of creditors of Condura Pty Ltd suggest those backing Duggan aren’t giving up. Condura Pty Ltd appointed Calabretta via a members voluntary liquidation (MVL) on December 6, 2017, one day after the company lodged a declaration of solvency…
David Solomon and Riad Tayeh may be preparing to pay a $2 million dividend to a priority creditor of 1st Fleet Pty Ltd (in liquidation) but that hasn’t stopped that same creditor belting the dVT partners with litigation that had its first airing in the courts this week. No details were ventilated when the matter came on for first directions on Wednesday but Minutes of the…
In what might be a sign of lean times, almost 10 per cent of Australia’s registered liquidator population has applied for a place on the reviewing liquidator panel proposed by ASIC last August. Association of Independent Insolvency Practitioners (AIIP) president and Helm Advisory principal Stephen Hathway said today that the number of applicants was disclosed by ASIC during meetings this week as part of its bi-annual…
With the September Quarter now concluded Stratos Legal has tallied up the insolvency appointments and as usual the results make compelling reading. Yet again Worrells has demonstrated its iron grip on the market for creditors voluntary liquidations (CVLs). The national firm topped the list for CVLs in the three east coast states and in South Australia, leaving the firm well placed to finish 2018 at the…
Liquidator Michael Caspaney may soon head to court to have a funding agreement with FEG ratified after creditors of Queensland construction firm Cullen Group Australia rejected the deal on the basis it would bankroll pursuit of sub-contractors who had received more than $4 million in preference payments. Readers of Insolvency News Online may recall that Caspaney was installed at the first meeting of creditors back…