Creditors

Court sides with liquidator in FEG fight

PKF’s Brad Tonks. FEG Active Creditor Recovery Unit Director Henry Carr. There would have been only measured satisfaction in the offices of PKF partner Brad Tonks and his lawyers at O’Neill Partners after the NSW Supreme Court yesterday delivered them a potentially significant victory against the Commonwealth’s FEG Recovery Division in respect of the dreaded interplay of sections 556 and 561 of the Corporations Act…


Commissioner fiddled as claims deadline burned

Steven Golledge SC. The Commissioner of Taxation’s (CoT) ears would’ve been aflame last week as Steven Golledge SC excoriated the highest tax officer in the land for repeatedly failing to preserve claims to millions lost to illegal phoenixing. As iNO reported in Banq Jurisdiction Case Could Limit Late Start Litigation, ex-clients of the controversial Banq Accountants & Advisers are seeking to overturn the basis on…


Liquidators and ATO at odds over relation back date

Rodgers Reidy director David Hambleton. Two Queensland liquidators are licking their wounds after betting that the Commissioner of Taxation (CoT) was wrong on the question of the relation back date for 52 The Esplanade Pty Ltd, a Surfers Paradise cafe operator. The question came before Queensland Supreme Court judge Declan Kelly for determination on March 15 and judgment in Re 52 The Esplanade Pty Ltd…


VAs’ preferred extension period cut short by creditor

Simon Cathro of Cathro & Partners. Cathro & Partners’ Andrew Blundell. Several companies operating goldmines have entered external administration recently, just when the yellow element’s spot price would seem to be supportive of solvency, if not profit. iNO’s coverage in the past few months has included reports on the travails of Jin Resources (Australia) Pty Ltd and its Gilded Rose gold mine near Cloncurry in…


Owners Corp managers opposing ex-VA’s fees

Olvera Advisors’ Damien Hodgkinson. BDO’s Andrew Sallway. Whilst some face the possibility that the ATO might renege on an undertaking and pursue monies it previously deemed vests with a liquidator, others are instead vexed by competing claims from creditors and the appointees they replaced. For Hogan Sprowles co-founder Christian Sprowles, that has meant he’s had to delay distributing some part of an approximately $285,000 cash…


Liquidator gains conditional relief from ATO

Morton + Lee Insolvency’s Leon Lee. Never say never seems to be the safest position for insolvency practitioners dealing with the Australian Tax Office (ATO). The Commonwealth Shylock’s rulings on tax liabilities can make rubber look rigid and equally elastic are its rulings in respect of monies to be credited back to a company in liquidation. That presents challenges for liquidators with surpluses to distribute…


Brew Still my beating heart

Shaw Gidley principal Paul Gidley. Rodgers Reidy’s Andrew Barnden. There are few things that should get the pulse racing like consenting to become administrator of a corporation about to be wound up. Knowing there’s a problematic debt, knowing that a hearing’s imminent and knowing not much else about an entity’s affairs must elevate the tension for even the most cocksure practitioner, especially in circumstances where,…


Incumbents’ rates eclipse those of rejected rivals

Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker. In insolvency, incumbency has its virtues, if for no other reason than that creditors desperate to have a voice might generally prefer the first devil presiding over their particular hell. And even when the incumbent is shown to charge more for the privilege of impaling claims on the trident of pari passu, being first has its advantages, as…


Hall Chadwick VAs repel KordaMentha challenge

Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence. KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker. It might be thought wise to never let someone who’s after your job address those who’ve assembled to decide your fate, but Richard Lawrence risked it yesterday when he temporarily vacated the chairman’s seat at the first meeting of creditors of Balmaine Gold Pty Ltd. The partner from the Hall Chadwick Melbourne practice made the decision some two…


Indemnity conditional on unlikely recovery finding

O’Brien Palmer’s Liam Bailey. Christmas spirit was in limited supply at the meeting of creditors of bankrupt builder Tony Saaib late last year, and that’s perhaps understandable. Convened on December 23, 2022 creditors had assembled to consider just one resolution. The removal of the trustee of Saaib’s bankrupt estate and his replacement with rivals joint and several. “I advise that the Indemnity is not payable…