EY’s Sam Freeman. Never let more than $340,000 worth of pre-appointment work influence concepts like the apprehension of independence seems to be the approach adopted by the trio of EY IPs who recently consented to act as voluntary administrators (VAs) of the Pindan property and asset management group. This at least is iNO’s opinion arrived at after reading the DIRRI distributed by Sam Freeman, Colby…
HLB Mann Judd partner Todd Gammel. Liquidator Todd Gammel endured a light grilling during virtual cross examination on Monday as lawyers for All Filtration Technologies Australia (ALTA) sought to derail the HLB Mann Judd partner’s application for an extension of time in which to bring proceedings related to the ALTA group’s 2015 restructure. Gammel, along with colleague Barry Taylor were required to bring the extension…
Grocon administrator Craig Shepard KordaMentha partner Craig Shepard was forced to adjourn the second meeting of the Grocon Administration Groups (Grocon) yesterday after the ATO proposed a compromise to assuage recalcitrant creditors pushing for a 45 day hiatus. Ahead of the meeting Shepard and his co-administrators Andrew Knight and Mark Korda had been adamant in their recommendation that the deed of company arrangement (DoCA) being…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Richard Albarran and David Ross have had quite a win in the NSW Supreme Court, with a judge ruling $2 million paid to the Commissioner of Taxation (ATO) by Western Port Holdings (WPH) whilst it was subject to a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) should be handed back. But will the decision prevail if an appeal is heard? The court’s ruling,…
Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. Deloitte Restructuring Consultant Simon Wallace-Smith. Eventful on multiple levels best describes yesterday’s public examination (PE) of former Deloitte partner and now consultant Simon Wallace-Smith, who was being questioned about his former tenure as liquidator of Last Lap Pty Ltd by counsel for the current incumbent. To start with, there were problems with all the parties being on the same…
Struck-off liquidator David Iannuzzi. Former Veritas Advisory director Steve Naidenov. The public examination conducted by Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine over the last month has been instructive on multiple levels. For a start, it’s put ex-liquidator David Iannuzzi in the witness box for the second time in as many months. That’s an ordeal Iannuzzi might have thought he’d avoided when in November last year Federal Court…
O’Brien Palmer’s Chris Palmer. There are times when one is compelled to ask what motivates a liquidator to pursue an 11th hour payment to a creditor when the sought after sum, once costs are deducted, amounts to sixth fifths of bugger all? For iNO such a time came on Tuesday as we read the judgement of Justice Fabian Gleeson In the matter of Skypac Aviation…
FTI Consulting’s Joanne Dunn. FTI Consulting’s John Park. It might not deliver the impact of a best seller like The Bourne Identity but around FTI Consulting QLD’s Central Plaza HQ at least we reckon The Busby Affidavit is quite the page turner. Contained within this innocuously monikered document lies nothing less than a bid by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation’s (DCoT) to relieve FTI’s Joanne…
Pitcher Partners’ Bryan Hughes. Pitcher Partners’ Perth office nabob Bryan Hughes has come in for some stick in a judgment of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which has rejected Hughes’ multiple claims of voidable transactions in respect of stricken developer Westgem. In what may turn out to be a costly decision for Hughes’ litigation funder IMF, Justice Paul Tottle said yesterday that the basis…
Grant Thornton’s Phil Campbell-Wilson. Grant Thornton’s Matt Byrnes. Jirsch Sutherland partner Malcolm Howell has branded his removal as liquidator of AFX Group Proprietary Limited “a blatant abuse of the new insolvency laws” after he was replaced at a meeting of creditors last Friday by Grant Thornton’s Matt Byrnes and Phil Campbell-Wilson. The meeting had been convened in accordance with ss 90-15(1) and 90-21(2) of the…