KordaMentha Singapore partner Cameron Duncan. In the wake of a disciplinary committee ruling last month cashiering one of their own, iNO’s mail is that senior members of industry heavyweight KordaMentha are puzzled about the ruling and about ASIC’s decision this week to make the punishment public. The decision, delivered on February 28 and announced in a statement released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission…
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…
O’Brien Palmer’s Liam Bailey. Christmas spirit was in limited supply at the meeting of creditors of bankrupt builder Tony Saaib late last year, and that’s perhaps understandable. Convened on December 23, 2022 creditors had assembled to consider just one resolution. The removal of the trustee of Saaib’s bankrupt estate and his replacement with rivals joint and several. “I advise that the Indemnity is not payable…
Amos Insolvency’s Peter Amos. EY’s Robyn Duggan. If anyone was wondering why newish EY recruit Robyn Duggan took so few appointments in 2022 it was probably because for a fair part of that year she knew she was leaving KPMG, the firm that offered her a place after it swallowed Ferrier Hodgson in 2019. In the current financial year Duggan took just one appointment in…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. I&R advisory partner David Ingram. A certain liquidator might be indulging a few spoonfuls of the guilty relish Germans call schadenfreude, if as iNO imagines, he has learned that the liquidator pursuing our delighter in the discomfort of others is in turn being sued by his former practice partners. To understand this tale however we must go back to 2020, approximately…
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…
Back in 2019 iNO reported on the appointment of a reviewing liquidator to assess the files of a practitioner located in south western Sydney. Naturally enough the findings of such reviews are confidential but the outcomes that flow from them can’t be concealed permanently. Last year ASIC imposed a restraint on the practitioner’s registration such that he couldn’t accept any further insolvency appointments, starting from…
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…
Offerman’s Michael Brennan. Offerman’s Dennis Offerman. What’s the world come to when trustees have to provide explicit and detailed reasons for refusing a bankrupt’s request for documents? If trustees say complying with such a request could prejudice the interests of creditors and third parties and is unreasonable to boot then courts should bloody well accept them at their word. They’re officers of the court are…
The puddle of liquidators in West Australia is generally thought to be a few tadpoles short of what’s needed to maintain a population unblighted by the possibility of conflict so it might have been tough to find a local able to act as liquidator of Anthemis Pty Ltd, a private corporate vehicle wholly controlled by registered liquidator and Perth insolvency luminary Garry Trevor. “It was…