Antony Resnick.
Suelen McCallum.
There’s been a flurry of activity in the courts in recent weeks involving the deed administrators (DAs) of failed builder Toplace and the group’s absent director, Jean Nassif.
That activity culminated in orders on Monday in the NSW Supreme Court winding up JKN Hills Pty Ltd, an entity to which Nassif is sole director appointed and sole shareholder.
dVT Group’s Suelen McCallum and Antony Resnick, who last month were appointed administrators of a holding DoCA encompassing scores of entities in the Toplace Group, were duly appointed as JKN Hills’ liquidators, giving them timely leverage as JKN Hills’ controllers finalise a sale campaign for 27 apartments in the troubled Atmosphere development at Concord.
In a hearing before Justice Ashley Black the court heard that Desmond Teng and John Ruffalo of Byron Recovery could potentially reap a surplus from the sale of the units after discharging the secured creditor’s debt and paying their fees.
That could see any remaining funds flowing to sole shareholder Nassif, who the court heard is in Lebanon and unwilling to return unless an arrest warrant issued by NSW Police in relation to allegations of fraud is withdrawn.
In an interview last month conducted in Beirut with reports from the ABC, Nassif strenuously denied the allegations and since leaving Australia in 2023 has consistently denied any wrongdoing, claiming instead that he’s the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by corrupt police and politicians.
The Beirut interview took place approximately a week before the reconvened second meeting of Toplace creditors was held.
McCallum and Resnick, who were appointed voluntary administrators of multiple group entities on July 7, 2023 said in a supplementary report to creditors provided ahead of the meeting last month that they estimated group liabilities in excess of $600 million.
The report included information on inter-company loan accounts reconstructed by dVT indicating that JKN Hills owed Toplace creditors $83 million as at June 30, 2023.
When contacted by iNO McCallum and Resnick wouldn’t be drawn on what prompted them to file the April 12 application to have JKN Hills wound up and when we asked Teng if the sale of the apartments had been completed he said he couldn’t confirm: “due to the sensitive nature of the sale and dealings with various stakeholders”.
Whatever the reason the application to wind up JKN Hills it was enough to rouse Nassif into albeit belated action, with lawyers on his behalf responding to the proceedings late last week via an application to have Monday’s hearing of the winding up application adjourned so expert evidence proving JKN’s solvency could be obtained.
Justice Black however refused the adjournment application. He wasn’t going to indulge a company director unwilling to return to the jurisdiction when no other director was available.
As for Nassif’s plan B – challenging Toplace’s standing to bring the winding up application – that was given even shorter shrift.
Further reading:
Toplace meeting comments confused a few
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