Liquidations

Banq jurisdiction case could limit late start litigation

Ex-liquidator David Iannuzzi. Commencing proceedings years after the deadline for such actions has expired is in for a test as the long running battle between the Commissioner of Taxation (CoT) and clients and interests associated with the notorious Banq Accountants & Advisors group flares again. The latest outbreak involves an appeal in the Federal Court by various beneficiaries of the Banq tax evasion scheme against…


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…


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…


Liquidators liable if plaintiff’s impecunious

KordaMentha’s Richard Tucker. Worrells’ Christopher Darin. No matter what misgivings liquidators of a company might have about the conduct of separate liquidators appointed to a related entity, they must always resist the temptation to apply to wind up that related entity if it’s subject to a deed of company arrangement (DoCA). That’s the message Supreme Court of West Australia Master Craig Sanderson delivered last week…


Allibi incumbents encountering resistance

Dye & Co’s Hamish MacKinnon. Dye & Co’s Nicholas Giasoumi. Still in Victoria and the eminences at East Hawthorn insolvency outfit Dye & Co are finding it heavy going investigating the affairs of Allibi Pty Ltd, despite their status as liquidators appointed by the Supreme Court of Victoria. Some books and records have not been produced, only one independent creditor has been identified to date…


Bankrupt ex-liquidator sitting on $5 million in super

Bankrupt dVT Group co-founder Antony de Vries. There you are, trying to enjoy retirement – albeit as an undischarged bankrupt – when the missus declares that being a part time ballet teacher leaves her both ill-equipped and without time to manage the marital super. Can a bloke not get a moment’s peace from the burden of managing money, even when you’re not supposed to have…


Casting vote deployed after FEG voices opinion

Hogan Sprowles partner Michael Hogan. O’Brien Palmer’sLiam Bailey. Unlike the dreaded die, in this fateful tale the decision on how the vote was cast came after the active creditor voiced its view. And from the reports of those who were there, it sounds like a classic case of a meeting – and an appointment – slipping from a liquidator’s fingers. The venue was the Clarence…


Death of a director leads liquidators full circle

DV Recovery Management’s Daniel O’Brien. When a director dies it’s not necessarily the end of the story. Just ask Melbourne liquidator Peter Goodin. Or the practitioners who replaced him. Or the liquidator who replaced them. This story started with the death in January 2018 of Mr Jun Chen, sole director of Good Home & Property Pty Ltd. By the following year the company had been…


Liquidator exceeds fee cap, repels misleading claim

Hamilton Murphy’s Stephen Dixon. The Federal Court has refused to find that Victoria Project Pty Ltd (VPPL) liquidator Stephen Dixon and his firm misled shareholders when he told them his fees to complete a members voluntary winding up (MVL) would be capped at $50,000 plus out of pocket expenses and GST. As is disclosed in Dixon (Liquidator), in the matter of Victoria Project Pty Ltd…