Maybe the perpetually youthful David Mansfield has known for a while that the winding up of Roseville Construction Services Pty Ltd (RCS) might not be a straightforward creditors voluntary given its links to one of Australia’s largest alleged payroll tax scams. Then again maybe not.
Either way things could be set to change when liquidator Darren Vardy applies in the Federal Court tomorrow for a range of orders in respect of Australian Lending and Finance Pty Ltd (ALF), a company relating to his investigations into the web of entities associated with the late insolvency advisor Sam Henderson.
Henderson, who died in a North Sydney hotel in 2023, was a director of RSC and linked to many more which Vardy believes were involved in Payroll and Superannuation Guarantee Tax (SGT) frauds scarcely distinguishable from the Plutus Payroll scam.
iNO’s mail is that Vardy has identified a link between the various Henderson-linked companies to which he’s been appointed and ALF and RCS, though the exact nature of the relationship won’t be known until an affidavit to be lodged tomorrow is made public.
We understand it’s been described as a “course of conduct” going back as far as 2010 and could help Vardy tighten the noose around his ultimate target, Titan Cranes & Rigging Pty Ltd (TC&R).
For present purposes what is known in respect of RCS is that the Deloitte partner was referred the appointment back in 2019 by Daniel Frisken of O’Brien Palmer.
It’s believed Frisken referred the appointments because he and Henderson had previously worked together at Jirsch Sutherland and acceptance would conceive an unavoidable conflict.
As well as RCS Frisken referred a further six entities associated with Henderson to Mansfield and Henderson paid $8,800 per appointment.
Paying the requisite indemnity however seems to be the only cooperation Mansfield got, with the liquidator reporting in an update to creditors in April 2023 that despite numerous attempts to contact Henderson by phone and written correspondence no response was received.
“My demands for the Director(s) to deliver up assets, books and records and complete a Report on Company Activities and Property (ROCAP) have not been met. Director(s) have a legal obligation
to assist the Liquidator and deliver up company property. Director(s) also have a legal obligation to complete the ROCAP. I have reported these breaches to ASIC,” Mansfield added.
He also alluded to the possibility of seeking funding from the Assetless Administration Fund (AAF) and said Henderson’s breaches would be included in a confidential report.
But perhaps the corporate regulator sensed that Henderson’s victims – the ATO and various super funds – were better equipped to bankroll investigations and potentially identify a liquid target like TC&R?
Since that report Mansfield has finalised the winding up and lodged his notice of ceasing to act, but yesterday the NSW Supreme Court heard from a former RCS employee seeking to have ASIC’s de-registration of the company deferred for two years while the District Court heard his worker’s compensation claim.
As there is an insurance policy that the court heard will respond to the claim, neither Mansfield or Vardy need by concern in respect of loss of assets or personal exposure, but regardless, Mansfield might be forced to have more to do with the RCS file he sought to shut in November than he’d like.
The approach by Daniel Frisken is correct and to be congratulated