THE CVs of KPMG Brisbane’s two most senior insolvency professionals are sporting bruises after the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA) announced this week that it had terminated their membership. In a short statement ARITA said that Ian Hall and Chris Giddens have been expelled and their names expunged from the ARITA Register for their refusal to comply with penalties applied as a result…
IN the wake of FTI Consulting’s removal as managers of the Yabulu nickel refinery in Queensland yesterday, creditors now face the prospect of the operations once again being controlled solely by Clive Palmer’s nephew. Until last Sunday, James McDonald and Clive Mensink were the directors of Queensland Nickel Sales Pty Ltd (QNS), a company first registered in 1972. However McDonald’s removal was only made official on Tuesday, one day…
WELL, you wouldn’t have wanted to be a hung over fund manager yesterday morning, logging on to check the portfolio after a big night out. If you had then you might’ve seen that the daily insolvency notices included a listing for the ANZ Bank. Further, the listing showed that the bank was being wound up by the tax office. According to the notice ANZ was subject…
FRIDAY was a triumph for the men and women of BPS Recovery after partner Max Prentice’s Ticket of Leave (TOL) trounced the competition at the annual Chartered Accountants Regatta on Sydney Harbour. With son Matt at the helm, Prentice scooped the Division A teams event, winning the coveted Liquidators Cup in the process. Fellow BPS team skipper Rob Pizzie took second aboard Tonic to entrench…
ASIC’s pursuit of a Federal Court inquiry into Ross McDermott is focussed on determining whether the Victorian insolvency practitioner (IP) faithfully fulfilled his obligations in terms of his duties and entitlements across 26 companies. However apart from listing the 26 companies across four schedules ASIC’s originating process doesn’t give much away. The inquiry sought falls under under Sections 536 and 477 of the Corporations Act…
FTI Consulting might have first been contacted about a VA appointment to Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd (QN) on Sunday January 3 but according to reports in The Australian newspaper, rival firm Hall Chadwick had a team on the ground at QN’s Yabulu nickel refinery in Townsville the following day. The report, published on Thursday January 7, put Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran, Jovandeep Singh, Mathew Badcock, and Brent Kijurina at…
Cor Cordis partners Ozem Kassem and Daniel Jurotawitch must continue winding up two companies controlled by Sarkis Nassif after a judge rejected the millionaire developer’s application to terminate the liquidations. Citing a lack of evidence and concerns that the companies may have exhibited “a lack of commercial morality,” Justice Stephen Robb had invited the applicants to bring fresh evidence but the deadline for that passed…
ONE can only imagine what Worrell’s Aaron Lucan is making of the application by self-declared bankrupt Dolores Lavin to be exempted from being examined about her financial affairs. In the Federal Circuit Court yesterday Lavin’s barrister Geoff McDonald said that a ‘medico’ had been identified who could provide the expert testimony upon which Lavin will rely in her application to have her summons to appear at…
KPMG’s Ian Hall and Chris Giddens have for months been resisting calls from the insolvency practitioners’ representative body to resign as liquidators of Engineered Surface Preparation Pty Ltd and repay fees earned on the appointment. The dispute between the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA) and two of its members came to light today when ARITA published details of a Professional Conduct Committee review that…
AFTER months of speculation the regulator has moved to shut down an inappropriately cosy referral relationship between Sydney liquidator Adam Farnsworth and Drummoyne-based accountant Frank Bruzzano. In a statement released today the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it had extracted an enforceable undertaking from Adam Edward Patrick Farnsworth which suspends his liquidator’s registration for six months. Given Farnsworth has not accepted an appointment since…