Some of the profession’s most pressing questions will be explored and potential solutions debated at the inaugural Association of Independent Insolvency Practitioners (AIIP) Conference to be held next month in Canberra. Questions around safe harbour; pre-packs; litigation funding, law reform and what the future might have in store will all be canvassed at the Disruption in the Insolvency Industry Conference on June 28 and 29…
The middle of a national rebranding campaign is not when a firm wants one its most senior and prominent practitioners to be unfavourably exposed but following publication of a disciplinary notice by ARITA, Cor Cordis finds itself in such a position. Posted on the ARITA website last Friday, the notice discloses that Ozem Kassem, one of Cor Cordis’s senior partners in NSW, has been expelled from…
ASIC’s long pursuit of Randall Joubert looks set to finally conclude after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) yesterday affirmed a 2016 decision of the Companies Auditors Liquidators Disciplinary Board (CALDB) recommending that Joubert’s registration as a liquidator be cancelled. In Joubert and Members of the Companies Auditors and Liquidators Disciplinary Board [2018] AATA 944 (19 April 2018) AAT deputy president Brian Rayment QC said in conclusion: “I…
David Leigh, the former PPB Advisory (PPBA) partner who stunned the profession after it emerged he had allegedly pinched $800,000 to pay debts, is set to stun again. In the Supreme Court of Queensland yesterday, Leigh filed a notice of intention to defend a claim for recovery of the funds, launched on February 28, 2018 by PPBA. From what can be gleaned from the document…
Sydney liquidator Randall Joubert will soon know whether his registration is to be cancelled after hearings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) appeared to conclude on Monday. We say appeared only because one can never be sure with such an interminable sequence of proceedings – they commenced in May 2016 – but after attending the hearing it was evident that AAT deputy president Brian Rayment had…
The alleged misappropriation of $800,000 from the liquidation account of Neolido Holdings by David Leigh will produce plenty of fallout for his ex-colleagues at PPB Advisory (PPBA) and no partner is closer to ground zero than Grant Sparks. SiN makes no suggestion that Sparks was in any way complicit in the alleged fraud or negligent but as joint liquidator of Neolido Holdings he, like any other…
PwC’s Derrick Vickers and the Committee of Inspection (COI) of the failed construction contractor Ostwald Bros Pty Ltd (OB) are set to clash when the parties convene next week for the hearing of Vicker’s rule 80-55 court application to validate transactions he entered into with various former COI members whilst trading OB in administration and in liquidation. Minutes of an informal COI meeting held yesterday reveal…
After a year during which his family was targeted with death threats by people known to the police, Rodgers Reidy partner Rob Moody has decided he’s had enough. SiN understands Moodie, who did not want to comment for this story, asked ASIC to cancel his liquidator’s registration some time late last year after deciding he’d had enough of the insolvency game, particularly in regards to dealing with small business…
More than 20 per cent of liquidations could involve illegal phoenix activity according to confidential Australian Tax Office (ATO) data divulged this week by Minister for Financial Services Kelly O’Dwyer, who also laid bare the inadequacy of efforts to curb the practice and eradicate complicit liquidators during a speech to Parliament on Wednesday. The Member for Higgins addressed the House of Representatives on the underlying purpose of the…
The year is done, Christmas is come and for SiN it is time to replenish the reservoir of curiosity ahead of what promises to be a fascinating 2018. From next year the Insolvency Law Reform Act (ILRA) will be in full swing. Insolvency practitioners will face a world where creditors will have expanded powers. Appointees will need to get used to being replaced. Courts too…