A court has taken an ax to the final bill by liquidators of three failed subsidiaries of multi-national agribusiness SK Foods Group, lopping off 30 per cent after a successful intervention by the corporate regulator, which called the more than $5.7 million claimed by the liquidators excessive.
AIG Australia has failed to convince the Full Federal Court that an insolvency exclusion in a directors and officers policy held by Kaboko Mining should exempt it from covering claims brought by the collapsed mining company against four former executives after a failure to repay a US$5.95 million loan allegedly led to the company’s insolvency.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will seek more than $4 million in refunds plus penalties when it takes the troubled operator of the Jump! Swim School franchise and its top executive to court for alleged violations of the Australian Consumer Law.
The former chief executive officer of Hastie Services has admitted to asking staff to make up for a shortfall between forecast and actual profits at the firm, but claims he made the order with the expectation it would be done legally, the jury hearing a criminal case against him was told.
The former chief financial officer of a unit of collapsed Gold Coast finance company Octaviar Investments is facing fraud charges for allegedly misappropriating more than $4.6 million in company funds for his personal use.
A former finance manager from Hastie Services and key witness for the prosecution in the criminal trial against two of the company’s former executives only pointed the finger at former COO Ian Thompson to avoid jail time herself, a jury has heard.
In a win for the corporate watchdog, a court has found collapsed education provider Vocation engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and breached its continuous disclosure obligations by failing to inform shareholders of problems with a large government contract.
An appeals court has ordered a phosphate mining company owned by mining magnate Joseph Gutnik to pay back more than $225,000 owed to the Queensland state government or face immediate liquidation, accusing the company of showing a “cavalier attitude” towards earlier orders made by the court.
The former CEO of a unit of collapsed construction firm Hastie Group told staff to “raid the balance books” to make up financial targets linked to his bonus, prosecutors said at the outset of a two-month criminal trial.
The liquidators of Gold Coast fund manager Equititrust are seeking court approval of a confidential settlement of two proceedings brought against KPMG for allegedly failing to properly audit the firm prior to its collapse.