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 the first half but thanks to the travails experienced by a fellow registered liquidator Duggan has now found herself the beneficiary of referral largesse, courtesy of ASIC.
On February 13 Duggan was appointed as an external administrator to 89 companies, pursuant to section 40-111 of Schedule 2 to the Corporations Act 2001, the section that deals with among things liquidator discipline, removal and retirement.
Having obtained a list of the 89 companies despite the abysmal non-performance of the search function of ASIC’s Insolvency Notices site, we conjured a DIRRI from one of the 89 to discern how the referral came about. (It was the private sector Insolvency Notices that delivered without issue or delay.)
According to Duggan “a meeting via Teams videoconference was held between me and ASIC
representatives to discuss general background, number of potential appointments, availability, and
confirmation of resourcing for potential engagements.”
That bald declaration however fails to disclose how Duggan knew that ASIC wanted to discuss the mass appointments with her via a Teams meeting, or how or when she first became aware that ASIC wanted to discuss a potential appointment.
Nor does the DIRRI disclose any information explaining why Peter Amos, the former external administrator of the 89 companies, relinquished the appointments.
What we do know is that Amos voluntarily suspended his liquidator’s registration on February 3 this year, some 10 months after ASIC imposed a condition on his registration preventing him from accepting any new appointments.
The condition was imposed after ASIC installed Cathro & Partners’ principal Simon Cathro as a reviewing liquidator. His subsequent report is confidential but any practitioner who uses a phoenix motif in his firm’s marketing as Amos Advisory did needs counselling. Unsurprisingly, the rumour mill is red lining.
In respect of Duggan however it’s bouquets and rainbows.
She has previously spent considerable time instructing Australian Tax Office (ATO) staff on how to deal with suspected phoenix activity, is one of only two women on ASIC’s reviewing liquidators panel, and as this latest bequest confirms, she’s a public service favourite.
Further reading:
I say again, Duggan certainly is a favourite.
Not only do the ATO and ASIC ignore my complaints about her inbox respect of the CDC3 P/L and Stony Creek p/l matters, she gets rewarded with this chest of fees.
She would also appear to be an ARITA favourite as they refuse to investigate these matters.
Lots of back catching going on around the coffee pot