Liquidators

Pitchers’ ATO inquiry hits defamation snag

When you’re conducting what might be the largest and most complex public examination ever run by Australian liquidators, maintaining the process without inadvertently creating additional complexity can be challenging, as Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo and Gess Rambaldi have discovered after being dragged into a potential defamation action between one of the examinees and Fairfax Media’s The Age newspaper. On August 28 Tim Batchelor, a locksmith…


KordaMentha partner exonerated by ARITA

It didn’t take long for ARITA to dismiss the complaints made about member and KordaMentha partner Rahul Goyal. As we reported last week in Tiaro Coal Creditors Gunning For Goyal various individuals connected to Tiaro Coal’s major creditor the Hudson Investment Group complained to ARITA about Goyal’s conduct on the administration. They alleged he was in cahoots with a major creditor with which KordaMentha has a referral relationship…


Tiaro Coal creditors gunning for Goyal

The stream of fees that’s flowed from the Tiaro Coal liquidation these last few years could get could a little bloodied after some of the company’s major creditors opened a new front in their war with liquidator Rahul Goyal. The gregarious Goyal – one of KordaMentha’s top revenue generators – has been at odds with major Tiaro creditor the Hudson Investment Group pretty much from the commencement of his…


FEG, McGrathNicol settle over Hastie claim

After all the defiance and all the warnings McGrathNicol and the FEG Recovery Unit have turned demure as mice and settled their differences in a confidential arrangement that allows for no comment. Such was the outcome this week in the Federal Court when Justice Brigitte Markovic made orders by consent in Commonwealth of Australia represented by the Department of Employment V Peter McKenzie Anderson & Ors….


Vic Liq has intriguing gig from accountant of interest

Melbourne liquidator Andrew Poulter has picked up the kind of appointment that might be expected to attract close attention. A fortnight ago Poulter filed his Declaration of Independence, Relevant Relationships and Indemnities (DIRRI) in relation to a company called PBDB Services Pty Ltd. The DIRRI revealed that the referrer was fellow Melbourne-based liquidator Ross McDermott, who, in between listening to your correspondent’s enquiries, took the…


Liquidator Peter Macks loses bid to grill ASIC officers

It would have been quite a sight seeing ASIC investigators involved in the regulator’s achingly drawn out pursuit of Peter Macks cross-examined by the South Australian-based liquidator but it is not to be, with Justice Sam Doyle of the Supreme Court of South Australia declining to countenance such entertainments. In Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Macks [2018] SASC 132 the judge revealed how he had refused…


MK Floors: liquidator describes director he didn’t meet

It was an awkward few hours in the witness box for liquidator David Iannuzzi on Wednesday, with the the Veritas Advisory principal at one point providing a description of a company director who only hours earlier sat in the same chair insisting the pair had never met. Iannuzzi was in court as part of public examinations being run by the Commonwealth’s FEG Recovery Unit, which is investigating the circumstances around…


Spice Temple: examinations don’t impair appetites

INO’s culinary attache recently made note of Veritas Advisory’s David Iannuzzi and Steve Naidenov enjoying the splendid fare at high end Chinese restaurant Spice Temple, observing that the pair, who are currently being examined by the FEG Recovery Unit in regard to their handling of the MK Floors liquidation, were reportedly relaxed and enjoying their lunch with unidentified guests. The report from our source neatly corresponded with a letter…


Jirsch pair “unreasonable” but no pain imposed

It’s not exactly Linc Energy but asset contamination can still poison the insolvency process even when it occurs on a vastly smaller scale – just ask Glenn Crisp and Malcolm Howell. The Jirsch Sutherland pair are liquidators of Bonnie View Petroleum Pty Ltd, which in 2010 arranged to sell its 19 petrol stations to larger rival, United Petroleum Pty Ltd. Of the 19 servos Bonnie View…


Tax agent

Tax agent cannot recall referring appointments

What a liquidator and ASIC jointly affirm in an enforceable undertaking (EU), a tax agent can seemingly refute in a few hours of public examination. Such was what INO witnessed last Friday in the Federal Court as accountant and registered tax agent Frank Bruzzano denied ever having provided advice on the solvency or otherwise of any company or client, including Lidcombe Plastering Services Pty Ltd (LPS), its…