McGrathNicol’s Anthony Connelly. ERA Lawyers’ Simon Gallant. The ATO might fairly be criticised for paying, seemingly without concern or question, tens of millions of dollars in GST refund claims which have turned out to be utterly bogus. But in attempting to turn around this bulk carrier of maladministration the tax office, or more particularly its private sector agents are encountering plenty of obstacles. The most…
Sheridan’s Jennifer Low. Former Pitcher Partners WA chairman Bryan Hughes. Jennifer Low’s tenacious pursuit of insolvent trading claims against the directors of Titan Interactive Pty Ltd – these days known as ACN 116 313 921 Pty Ltd – continues to grind forward with a judgment delivered in the Federal Court last week resolving questions about how Low and her lawyers might mount a claim for…
Wexted Advisors Joe Hayes. Seeing Scotty Atkins back on the tools was just one of the headline acts featuring at this week’s performance by the Sanjeev Gupta circus. The tour, which began a year ago when the South Australian government appointed KordaMentha to take control of the ailing Whyalla Steelworks, opened on Monday in the NSW Supreme Court with the debt juggling steel baron seeking…
Consider the all too convenient and unlikely coincidence at the heart of this tale and despair. Some five months after finding Sydney man Nahi Gazal to be in contempt of court over almost $5 million withdrawn from bank accounts that were the subject of freezing orders, the ruling judge this week declared that he may have to disqualify himself from further hearings after learning that…
SV Partners’ Fabian Micheletto. Image: SV Partners. Former bankruptcy trustee Paul Leroy. Fugitive ex-bankruptcy trustee Paul Leroy would’ve been conspicuous by his presence if he’d appeared this week in response to an application brought by the trustees of the bankrupt estate of Kathryn Jackson, an estate Leroy gleefully plundered before fleeing the jurisdiction in late 2023. SV Parters Fabian Micheletto and Michael Carrafa applied to…
Vincents’ Henry McKenna. A beauty parade is on the cards after solvency-challenged steel bro Sanjeev Gupta placed Liberty Primary Metals Australia (LPMA) into administration one day before an application to have the company wound up was due to be heard. “It was our view that the creditors of the Company should decide the future of the Company. This was not a view shared by the…
PKF’s Brad Tonks. PKF partner Mark Roufeil. A judge who was a highly regarded commercial barrister might be thought to have sympathy for liquidators caught short arranging funding before a claim deadline expires. Negative. “In cases such as the present, where the quality of the explanation for delay is a consideration relevant to whether or not the relief claimed should be granted, self-interest might have…
Merchants Advisory founder Louisa Sijabat. One of the duties of a trustee is ensuring effective communication with stakeholders and iNO has not seen a more effective means of inviting questions about whether that duty’s been fulfilled than by muzzling a bankrupt with an AVO. During a hearing in the Federal Court yesterday it came to light that the trustee in question, Louisa Sijabat of Merchants…
PKF partner Mark Roufeil. Mark Roufeil and Brad Tonks will be on tenterhooks as they await a Federal Court ruling that will determine if they can pursue insolvent trading and voidable transaction claims worth millions. Roufeil and his lawyer Thomas Russell turned up at the Federal Court yesterday to assist their barrister Andrew Fernon SC make a number of applications One was for the entry…
Worrells partner Chris Darin. The workings of the NSW Supreme Court Registry at times mystify, and it’s not only iNO that thinks so. With proceedings set to commence next month, lawyers for Worrells partner Chris Darin needed access to a trove of documents. That material had been disgorged in response to notices to produce Darin issued when conducting public examinations of individuals associated with Portman…