ATO replace-a-thon on the road to McEvoy Street

They had almost three years but eventually the ATO decided Ozem Kassem and Jason Tang had to go.

“Sorry boys, we’re sure you tried your best but what happened with those claims? The examinations? The asset freezes and passport seizures? That relation back date wouldn’t look out of place in the mouth of a sabre tooth tiger. Mind if we swap you out?

“Approve our fees and the lien’s history” the KPT Restructuring principals might have smugly replied.

And that’s how the April 29, 2025 meeting of creditors of Touchline Pty Ltd played out, with the ATO and Revenue NSW, overwhelmingly the two largest creditors of the labour hire firm, voting in favour of remuneration resolutions proposed by the same two insolvency practitioners who in 2022 stymied the ATO’s attempt to appoint its preferred nominees as liquidators.

In return, the statutory unsecureds got their preferees, albeit three years late.

But the ATO is playing the long game in this contest between the law and labour hire, that iniquitous and endlessly rorted sector that’s proving a tough nut to crack for authorities and their insolvency proxies.

And admittedly, what choice does the ATO have given it hasn’t moved quickly enough to play any other way?

Kassem and Tang were appointed administrators of Touchline on September 13, 2022, four days after referrer Tim Drury of Private Broker contacted Kassem to discuss the company’s plight.

That referral and appointment was made in circumstances where the ATO had already tapped McGrathNicol’s Kathy Sozou and Anthony Connelly for consents whilst preparing for a hearing of its winding up application, scheduled for October 5, 2022.

iNO makes no suggestion of wrongdoing. With their remuneration claims endorsed by the two largest creditors Kassem and Tang were happy to relinquish Touchline, enabling Sozou, Connelly and colleague Jamie Harris to add it to the labour hire rat’s nest they’re investigating in respect of alleged tax fraud. And this is no meagre litter.

As well as Touchline Sozou, Connelly, Harris and Jonathan Henry have scooped up SSG NSW Pty Ltd, Blockfork Pty Ltd, Alpine Personnel Pty Ltd, Grow Surge Pty Ltd, Highpoint Pty Ltd and Zenith Workforce Pty Ltd after the ATO tired of the efforts of the incumbents.

Grow Surge and Highpoint were also in Kassem and Tang’s clutches courtesy of late 2022 referrals from Drury until the ATO induced them to relinquish.

David Ross of I&R Advisory meanwhile was relieved of the SSG NSW appointment in May this year, almost two years after he consented to act as liquidator in a CVL following a referral from Drury.

WLP Restructuring’s Alan Walker took on Blockfork in June 2023 courtesy of a referral from Drury and was punted in May this year.

Just a random thought but perhaps the ATO might like to have a chat with Drury, given he appears to be someone who attracts inquiries from tax averse directors in their hour of need.

O’Brien Palmer’s Daniel Frisken meanwhile took appointments over Alpine Personnel and Zenith Workforce in May 2024 and February 2023 respectively.

Alpine Personnel was referred by lawyer Rob Watson of Watson Webb. Zenith came to Frisken on January 19, 2023 following a referral from Burwood Accounting Services’ Chady Elias.

Repeat that name rapidly and it sounds like “shady alliance”. But we digress.

These companies are linked in various ways. Some are labour hire firms. Some are entities that the McGrathNicol appointees have diplomatically described as being providers of services to the labour hire firms or to clients of those labour hire firms. Layer upon layer, draining the taxpayer.

According to every insolvency practitioner that’s conducted any level of investigation the directors of these entities are uniformly in breach of Section 286 in respect of the adequacy of their books and records.

And those investigations run parallel with inquiries being undertaken by BRI Ferrier’s Peter Krejci, Andrew Cummins, John Keenan and into other labour hire and associated enterprises linked to Sydney accountant Sam Cassaniti and his business Accolade Advisory, the McEvoy Street, Alexandria firm the BRI appointees and the ATO raided with independent lawyers from Bridges on February 19 this year. Frisken’s referrer Watson Webb has been defending Cassaniti in the Federal Court since.

And indeed, the registered office of Alpine Personnel is 74 McEvoy Street Alexandria, the premises from which Accolade Advisory and its lawyers McEvoy Legal operate.

BRI Ferrier should arrange a McEvoy Street tour for their peers from McGrathNicol. Probably worth inviting Helm Advisory’s Stephen Hathway too given the ATO’s bankrolling him to investigate the Cikes family’s Dalma formwork group, which the ATO alleges may be liable for up $150 million in unpaid taxes.

If they haven’t found links to Accolade we’d be surprised but at this stage Cassaniti, who recently acknowledged that he was a director of certain companies under the broader definition of the office, has not been charged with an offence and iNO makes no suggestion of wrongdoing.

And if the bus is on the way to McEvoy Street stopping at Drury’s Pirrama Road, Pyrmont offices is advised. Might as well bring Timbo along.