WITH judgement pending on Justice Antony Siopi’s inquiry into the handling of the Burrup Fertilisers receivership, extraordinary allegations made about partners and staff of PPB at the eleventh hour by Martin Goldblatt can now be aired, alongside PPB’s rebuttals. One of the main planks of plaintiff Pankaj Oswal’s pursuit of breach of duty findings against Ian Carson, David McEvoy and Simon Theobald rests on the…
APPARENTLY they never knew. About the summonses to attend for public examinations, about the orders to produce documents or about the warrants for their arrest, issued after the summonses expired uncomplied with. Accountants Bill Gertos, Constantine Savell and Therese Alha. No idea. The Federal Court heard as much last Friday in room 19c around 3.00pm. Registrar Chaun Ng warned the three that they must appear…
THE wash up from day one of public examinations into the bankrupt estate of artistic agent Dolores Lavin culminated in the issue of arrest warrants for her accountants and an application by Lavin to be excused from her examination on undisclosed medical grounds. Late on Monday afternoon Federal Court Registrar Chuan Ng issued warrants for the arrest of Bill Gertos, Con Savell and Therese Alha. Barrister Geoff McDonald,…
MAX Prentice’s grip on the bankrupt estate of Robert Gilbert Coshott may have loosened a tad this week after Federal Court judge Jayne Jagot on Tuesday overturned the decision of her Circuit Court counterpart Rolf Driver on appeal from the bankrupt’s brother. In May Judge Driver ruled on an application by Ronald Michael Coshott and Fewin Pty Ltd seeking confirmation of their status as creditors in…
OCTAVIAR’s general purpose liquidators Kate Barnett and Bill Fletcher were served a major setback in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday. In handing down his judgement, Justice Paul Brereton ruled that RSM’s David Kerr – currently special purpose liquidator of Octaviar Limited (OL) – can apply to extend his powers, paving the way for an appeal of Barnett and Fletcher’s rejection in April 2014 of a…
IT’S that time of year when bankruptcy trustees and those who work with them convene for Traill & Associates‘ annual National Practical Bankruptcy Congress, Workshops (and cocktail party). Organised by Rosie Traill, whose sister Kate was recently appointed to the bench as a Judge of the District Court, the two-day get-together of body snatchers focuses on practical issues facing trustees and their staff and advisors,…
IT’s early days but Sydney lawyer Paul Fordyce is planning to launch a restructured insolvency conference format that he thinks could blow rival events out of the water. The fact that he intends staging his conference in Hawaii won’t detract from its allure. Over a coffee this week Fordyce explained how the three-day event would canvass topics in a way radically different to the usual…
IT is SiN’s opinion that the term ‘farcical’ might just creep into the general discourse around a senate inquiry when much of a session is dominated by the inquiry’s architect busting attendee’s testicles. The session in question took place when the Senate Economics References Committee’s Inquiry into Insolvency in the Construction Industry rolled into Sydney. Leftwing Senator and unionist Doug Cameron, who is driving the…
STEPHEN Hathway hasn’t wasted time. Little more than a month after being ejected from the SV Partners’ Sydney practice he co-founded, Hathway is up and running with a new outfit he’s dubbed Helm Advisory. ASIC records show Helm Advisory Pty Ltd was registered on August 31 and SiN dropped into the new offices at 32 Martin Place yesterday to meet the team. The core is…
THE latest accounts for Octaviar Administration (OA) show that Bill Fletcher and Kate Barnett earned almost $370,000.00 in fees in the past six months, taking total remuneration since they were appointed to $23.125 million. The Bentleys’ pair were installed as liquidators of OA and Octaviar Limited (OL) in September 2009 after the Public Trustee of Queensland, acting on behalf of creditors, removed Deloitte’s John Greig and…