Katherine Barnet leaving the Supreme Court Photo: iNO Images Liquidator Kate Barnet has taken leave of absence from her role as a director of the board of the Australian Restructuring, Insolvency & Turnaround Association (ARITA) following her referral to a s40-45 disciplinary committee by ASIC. As was first reported last week in Insolvency News Online (iNO) Barnet and former Bentleys colleague Bill Fletcher were referred…
The AFP arrests this week in respect of yet another Plutus Payroll-style tax evasion scheme prompted iNO to consider, not for the first time, what aspects if any of these recurring scams are facilitated by complicit insolvency practitioners, a negligent regulator or a combination of both. Looking at the names of those arrested, it wasn’t long before our investigations led us instead to a particular…
Octaviar liquidator Kate Barnet. Octaviar liquidator Bill Fletcher. Octaviar liquidators Kate Barnett and Bill Fletcher have been referred to a disciplinary committee under section two of the Insolvency Practice Schedule by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Following the issuing of a show cause notice, the corporate regulator published notice of the referral to a schedule two committee last week. Barnett declined to comment…
KPMG’s Peter Gothard. KPMG’s Robyn Duggan. The shareholders of the Pages events group may have been throttling each other through the courts for four strangulated years but as far as iNO is concerned things became interesting only this month. In less than three weeks an entity in the group has had administrators appointed, administrators replaced and if the Gods of case law so will it,…
Hamilton Murphy’s Stephen Dixon. Worrells’ Ivan Glavas. The likelihood that Hamilton Murphy’s Steve Dixon and Worrells’ Ivan Glavas could come in for some unwelcome attention has edged a little closer to reality following the latest decision of Justice Kevin Lyons of the Supreme Court of Victoria in the unfolding saga that is El-Saafin & Anor v Franek & Ors (No 4) [2020] VSC 389. Dixon…
Cor Cordis’s Jeremy Nipps. It’s not every day liquidators have reason to apply to terminate the winding up orders that saw them installed but just such a scenario is revealed in the matter of C.A.R.E. Employment & Training Services Pty Ltd, in the matter of C.A.R.E. Employment & Training Services Pty Ltd (No 2) [2020] FCA 1006. Cor Cordis duo Jeremy Nipps and Barry Wight…
Amanda Young. Struck off liquidator Amanda Young could be gaoled for up to 10 years following the commencement of criminal proceedings relating to almost $240,000 the 40 year old accountant is alleged to have misappropriated whilst working at mid-tier insolvency firm Jirsch Sutherland. Young was issued a summons in respect of the alleged criminal offences in April this year and the matter came before a…
SV Partners no more! Liquidator Shumit Bannerjee. The current flat lining of insolvency appointments would you think give ambitious IPs eager to strike out on their own cause to reconsider. Not necessarily so. Take SV Partners’ director Shumit Bannerjee for example, or more correctly, former SV Partners’ director. Bannerjee it turns out has taken the bold – or perhaps prescient step – of leaving the…
AICM CEO Nick Pilavidis. Sources close to Government deliberations around how to cope with the tsunami of insolvencies anticipated once fiscal support ends have told iNO measures to restrain liquidators from pursuing preferences are under active consideration. “A lot of stakeholders are seeking to have unfair preferences suspended, the AICM for example,” a source said in response to iNO’s enquiries about options the government could…
Balance Insolvency principal Tim Cook. Criticisms of a 439A report produced by Balance Insolvency’s Tim Cook have been revealed in a judgment delivered this morning by Justice Ashley Black in the NSW Supreme Court. Cook’s report was issued on April 9, 2019 following his appointment as voluntary administrator (VA) of Citadel Financial Corporation. Citadel sought Cook’s consent to act after it lost a case in…