KPMG’s Phil Quinlan KPMG’s Morgan Kelly. An application for the issue of a “Letter of Request” to the High Court of New Zealand (NZHC) has been ruled “premature” due to the application being ex-parte, but the liquidators of online broker Halifax Investment Services PtyLtd (Halifax) are almost certain to reapply given the unbridled intermingling of client and company funds across Halifax’s Australian and Kiwi operations….
Jirsch Sutherland partner Trent Devine. Jirsch Sutherland managing partner Bradd Morelli. The liquidators of FW Projects will be feeling mighty relieved after a judge yesterday threw out an application seeking to replace the Jirsch Sutherland duo on the basis of bias. In dismissing the application of builder Hindmarsh Construction Australia (HCA) NSW Supreme Court Judge Ashley Black found In the matter of FW Projects Pty…
Pitcher Partners WA chief Bryan Hughes. The Supreme Court of West Australia has ruled that an appointment of an administrator is still valid even if not all the directors of the insolvent entity could have made a determination about solvency at the time. The ruling was made in Bryan Kevin Hughes as joint and several liquidators of Traditional Therapy Clinics Limited (In liq) [2019] WASC…
Deregistered Trustee David John Leigh. Don’t you love this initiative by the regulators to make registered practitioners responsible if a disgraced ex-trustee or liquidator weedles their way back into the game? The thought occurred to INO following Wednesday’s announcement by ASIC in regards to David John Leigh, the former PPB Advisory partner who misappropriated $800,000 from a liquidation account between July and November in 2017. The committee…
When SV Partners’ pair Shumit Banerjee and Jason Porter were appointed joint and several voluntary administrators (VAs) of United Security Enterprises Pty Ltd (USE’s) it dawned on them very quickly that they had a problem. Under the Security Industry Act and cl 13(3) of the Security Industry Regulation 2016 (NSW) the Commissioner of Police was obliged to revoke the company’s master security license due to the event…
Next time you’re bemoaning the cost of ASIC searches spare a thought for Jamieson Louttit. The Sydney IP was appointed liquidator of Sydney TY International Consulting Pty Ltd on November 7, 2018 following an application by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation (DCoT) to wind up the company. As it turns out, the director of Sydney TY International Consulting is the director of a further 97 companies,…
In all the excitement surrounding the Kilarnee and Amerind cases, similar questions about rights of indemnity and exoneration as they apply to trustees have been somewhat overlooked in the bankruptcy context, but the issues have been ventilated, most recently in Lane (Trustee), in the matter of Lee (Bankrupt) v Commissioner of Taxation (No 3) [2018] FCA 1572 (19 October 2018). This one involves a preference paid…
A stoush with the Commissioner of Police, employing one’s referrer, having to include the terms of that employment in a supplementary DIRRI – United Security Enterprises Pty Ltd has plenty for administrators Shumit Banerjee and Jason Porter to sink their teeth into. The SV Partners pair were appointed VAs back on August 31 after being contacted by the company’s accountant Jai Menon. If that surname looks familiar…
In what might be a sign of lean times, almost 10 per cent of Australia’s registered liquidator population has applied for a place on the reviewing liquidator panel proposed by ASIC last August. Association of Independent Insolvency Practitioners (AIIP) president and Helm Advisory principal Stephen Hathway said today that the number of applicants was disclosed by ASIC during meetings this week as part of its bi-annual…
Industry has been quick to respond to the draft reforms Treasury released in August aimed at more effectively combatting illegal phoenix activity and the verdict from the two key bodies is mixed. Both the Australian Restructuring, Insolvency & Turnaround Association (ARITA) and the Australian Institute of Credit Management (AICM) lodged submissions to the draft reforms on September 28, 2018. The thrust of the submissions is that…