A fresh assault on the independence of Peter Krejci, Andrew Cummins and Jonathan Keenan was flagged yesterday as the BRI Ferrier trio continued public examinations of individuals linked to an alleged tax evasion scheme involving tens of millions of dollars. For good measure the attack will also target the BRI Ferrier trio’s lawyers.
At approximately 4:00pm on Tuesday barrister Hugh Somerville told Federal Court Registrar Susan O’Connor that his client McEvoy Legal would make application for the removal of Krejci, Cummins and Keenan from their roles as provisional liquidators, liquidators and receivers of multiple entities and trusts linked to McEvoy Legal and Accolade Advisory (renamed Capital Financial Advisory in April 2024).
Somerville also told the court his client would seek orders restraining ERA Legal from acting for the BRI trio, though it could not be confirmed at time of publication if such applications have been filed with the Federal Court registry.
McEvoy Legal is an interested party in proceedings commenced earlier this year by the BRI trio as they investigate, with ATO funding, the affairs of companies and trusts linked to Sam Peter Cassaniti, who has been identified in liquidators’ report and Federal Court judgments as the alleged architect of scheme.
Cassaniti, who was gaoled for two years in 2004 after being convicted of tax fraud, spent much of Monday and yesterday in the witness box being grilled by the BRI trio’s counsel, Michael Rose.
Whilst many of his responses were inexact, intriguing revelations were brought forth.
For example it turned out that Marginata Securities, a company whose sole director is Cassaniti’s wife Ms Thi Linh Trinh, loaned $195,000 to Peter Kay, brother-in-law of construction industry figure George Alex, who in December was sentenced to a minimum of more than six years imprisonment for his role in a multi-million dollar money laundering and tax evasion scheme.
The loan, the court heard on Monday, was to pay Alex’s lawyers.
Given Marginata Securities makes business and commercial loans, Trihn couldn’t respond when asked how Kay believed he could generate a profit from funding someone else’s legal expenses.
It was also revealed that Marginata had been loaned in excess of $20 million by a Dr Preslav Trenchev and when Trinh was asked if Marginata holds the funds on trust for investment in Marginata her barrister objected, saying the line of questioning was being undertaken in circumstances where Krejci, Cummins and Keenan are, as provisional liquidators of Marginata, hopelessly conflicted and what Rose was doing was undertaking cross-examination and therefore an abuse of process.
The court also heard that Cassaniti had been assaulted and threatened, and on two occasions the court was closed for brief periods whilst Rose asked questions about property addresses which Cassaniti wanted kept out of the public domain on personal welfare grounds.
Cassaniti was also asked questions about McEvoy Legal principal Shaun Victor Kerrigan, who has been issued with an examination summons but according to the evidence of Cassaniti and other examinees is in Dubai.
Cassaniti also told the court that after the ATO issued audits of myriad entities that were clients of Accolade he was assisted in preparing reconciliations by Lucas Connell, a co-accused of Alex who in February 2024 pleaded guilty to aid, abet, counsel or procure an offence – dishonestly cause a loss, in relation to the fraudulent scheme that saw Alex gaoled.
Connell was represented in those proceedings by ERA Legal managing director Daren Anderson.
Cassaniti’s examination concluded late in the afternoon and next up was McEvoy Legal senior lawyer Raphael Grossman.
Before Rose could commence his questioning Somerville told the Registrar of the planned applications to removed the BRI Ferrier appointees and ERA on the basis of conflict.
If brought, that application will join an existing suite of resistance measures, including an application to set aside the Anton Pillar orders that allowed for the search of McEvoy Legal and Accolade Advisory’s offices last month.
Further reading
11th hour bid by ex-Virtical director to unwind ProvLiqs
ATO swoop sees another liquidator replaced
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