It’s never helpful when a government official casts aspersions upon insolvency practitioners two days out from a first meeting of creditors of a controversy-plagued firm whose founder has fled the jurisdiction.
That however is the scenario facing dVT Group’s Suelen McCallum and Antony Resnick as they prepare for the first meeting of creditors of controversial construction firm Toplace Pty Ltd later today.
“It’s not about us, it’s about the creditors, it’s about people facing uncertainty, it’s about getting them the best outcome. We are totally focused on getting the best return for creditors.” dVT Group partner Suelen McCallum.
On Monday night the Nine Network broadcast a story on its A Current Affair program exploring the troubles of Toplace and one of its defect-riddled developments.
As well as giving air time to an understandably aggrieved buyer of an apartment in Toplace’s crumbling new Vicinity apartment complex in Sydney’s south-west the program dwelt on the appointment of McCallum and Resnick as Toplace’s administrators, suggesting that dVT Group, which operates out of a modest house-to-office conversion in Harris Park and a serviced office in the Sydney CBD was too small to handle an administration of Toplace’s size and complexity.
The program then aired excerpts of an interview with NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, who referred to so-called “friendly” administrators as being an integral part of a business model favoured by that sub-stratum of property developers with an aversion to paying their debts.
Given McCallum and Resnick were the only administrators referred to in the program iNO asked Chandler who he thought was a friendly.
“I was speaking generally and not specifically DVD/Toplace (sic) but it is apparent to me that the use of friendlies is part of the business model for repeat insolvency,” Chandler said.
iNO then asked McCallum and Resnick whether they considered Chandler’s comments actionable. In a prepared statement McCallum dodged the question but defended dVT’s capacity to handle the job.
“Some people are trying to make this about us,” McCallum said.
“It’s not about us, it’s about the creditors, it’s about people facing uncertainty, it’s about getting them the best outcome. We are totally focused on getting the best return for creditors,” she said.
“We have the resources, expertise and people to get the best possible outcome for creditors.
“We have a team of 30 working on this matter led by two partners with decades of experience in international and national insolvency practices.
“We will work with all interested parties be they in Government, regulators or others in the interests of the creditors,” she said.
The pair were referred the job by Sydney lawyer Daren Anderson of ERA Lawyers and in the thick of the pre-appointment discussions was dVT Group co-founder, former liquidator and undischarged bankrupt Riad Tayeh.
According to the administrators’ Declaration of Independence, Relevant Relationships and Indemnities (DIRRI) dated July 12, 2023 Tayeh and Resnick attended ERA’s offices on June 19 to discuss a possible appointment.
As previously reported by iNO, Tayeh left the dVT Group partnership in the wake of being bankrupted by the liquidators of Timbercorp Finance.
Those liquidators are Craig Shepard and Mark Korda of KordaMentha. Ironically, Shepard, Jennifer Nettleton and Scott Langdon of KordaMentha are the receivers of JKN Finance, another entity related to Toplace founder Jean Nassif, who reportedly scarpered to Lebanon months before NSW police in June obtained an arrest warrant in relation to an alleged large scale fraud.
Nassif however has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has alleged that he’s the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by corrupt police and politicians.
Why Tayeh and not McCallum took point with Resnick during the initial discussions with Anderson and Toplace’s directors and secured creditor Pacific Alliance Group (PAG) wasn’t answered prior to our publication deadline but a look at the dVT Group website and the image depicted below suggests Tayeh remains heavily involved in the firm despite being being bankrupted and forced to relinquish his registration as a liquidator and his partnership shares.
McCallum and Resnick meanwhile will be no doubt be juicing the proxies ahead of today’s meeting, grumbling about Chandler’s “friendlies” comments and contemplating losing the appointment given the comments of NSW Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong who told A Current Affair that creditors should use their powers to replace the dVT duo if they thought a change would be in their best interests.
With all due respect to Mr Chandler I find it hard to understand how he would be in a position to adequately comment about the integrity or abilities of the External Administrator’s who otherwise have not been the subject of any criticism. There is very little they can do to respond to the “Building Commissioner” who is only now starting to flex his muscles after a fairly lengthy period of time in the performance of his duties. I have not come across allegations of improper conduct or incompetence in respect of either of the External Administrator’s. Perhaps Mr Chandler should focus more on how he can fulfil his obligations and recommend appropriate changes to protect investors in sale of units of the plan in circumstances where all of this occurs prior to any involvement of the External Administrator’s!