There was only the occasional uncomfortable moment for Quentin “Q” Olde yesterday as he spent several hours in a Federal Court witness box responding to questions put to him by counsel for an aggrieved company director convinced he’s been shafted by his fellow directors – and one former – with the ANKURA boss’s assistance.
iNO tuned into the court’s live broadcast via audio-visual link which for reasons known only to Justice Michael Lee’s chambers was not provided today but we’ll do our best to bring the colour and movement from what we observed.
Olde rejects all allegations of providing assistance or of favouring one side in the administration of Kentel Australasia Pty Ltd (Kentel) which was placed into administration on March 27, 2025 with Olde and ANKURA colleague Liam Healey installed as VAs.
Preceding the appointment of the VAs has been an almighty falling out between Kentel’s directors Ben Scott and former director James Kennedy in respect of the loss of the rights to Kentel’s reality television production Luxe Listings, the rights to which Scott alleges were let go by Kennedy to Amazon at undervalue.
A battle in respect of that dispute has raged in the NSW Supreme Court but the placing of Kentel into administration and its subsequent admittance in May into a DoCA – which had the effect of extinguishing claims against Kennedy – was hardly going to be ignored by the well-resourced Scott.
Within a week of the meeting at which the DoCA was accepted Scott’s lawyers had filed an application for judicial review of Olde and Healey’s conduct.
The claim has since evolved and Scott is now seeking orders setting the DoCA aside, winding up Kentel and appointing Jarvis Archer as liquidator.
In late 2024 Kennedy used his majority 70 per cent shareholding in Kentel to install Mel Ashton and Rod Sutton as directors.
During cross examination Olde confirmed that Sutton was well known to him given Sutton had been chairman of FTI Holdings when it sought to buy Taylor Woodings (TW) around 2012. Olde headed TW’s Sydney practice at the time.
He also confirmed he knew Ashton, telling the court Ashton had been a friend of his father’s when he grew up in West Australia and that he’d known him for 30 years.
Olde was then referred to a series of emails dated March 24, 2025 he and Healey received in which Sutton indicated that there would be an application to discontinue the Supreme Court proceedings and that Kentel would need to be placed into administration.
Also involved in the email chain was lawyer David Walter whose firm A&O Shearman had been appointed by Sutton and Ashton to replace the lawyers Scott had retained to prosecute his claims against Kennedy in the Supreme Court proceedings.
Because the March 24 email chain referred to “further to discussions with David (Walter)” Justice Lee asked Olde to clarify exactly when he knew that there was an intention to discontinue the Supreme Court proceedings.
Olde said he only found out on that day, though he became aware prior to March 24 that the proceedings were on foot.
Mostly Justice Lee listened to the questioning of Scott’s counsel James Mack, who niggled Olde about his affidavit, questioned his his adjudication of proofs of debts lodged by Sutton and Ashton for their directors’ fees and irritated him with Byzantine inquiries which Olde said he didn’t understand despite being an accountant.
Also observing Olde’s performance was industry veteran Max Donnelly, who has some shared business interests with Scott’s father and might have a bit more time on his hands after relinquishing his registration as a trustee in bankruptcy and retiring from KPMG last year.
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