The liquidator of Wright Global Investments (WGI) intends to self fund a public examination into the activities of a number of people linked to the dealer group as part of its investigation into why the firm collapsed.
In a report to creditors dated 1 November, Peter Ngan of Ngan & Co will begin a liquidator’s examination of five people associated with WGI in the New South Wales Supreme Court on 16 and 17 November.
Ngan had summoned former WGI employee Rachel Bennett, William James Hamilton of Hamiltons Chartered Accountants, iPraxis general manager Dylan Mann and former WGI chief executive Mark Schroeder to participate in the examination, the report said.
“The public examination into the company’s affairs will assist my investigations, in particular into the transmission of the company’s assets for little to no consideration whilst Mr Mark Schroeder was director of the company and also the transfer of company funds to Mr Schroeder and his related entities, which transfer of funds were made by Ms Rachel Bennett,” it said.
“The amounts transferred may not be the $340,000 originally calculated, but closer to $500,000.”
Ngan said the examination would also look into allegations that Bennett and Schroeder provided funding to two separate liquidators so the liquidators could use company funds in liquidations where there was apparently no “legal, commercial or rational reason to fund these liquidations”.
“To date, $37,000 of the company’s funds were provided to these liquidators and my investigations are continuing,” the report said.
As part of the public examination, Schroeder had been ordered to produce documentation including financial accounts, bank statements, tax returns and books for the period of 1 January 2009 to date, it said.
He has also been ordered to provide all documents, contracts, agreements, deeds, correspondence, statements and records of conversations to and from or between WGI or any WGI entity and him regarding the transfer of authorised representatives or clients or assets from WGI to him or any other entity.
Ngan has also called for correspondence, records of conversations, letters and emails, and statements between Schroeder and an extensive number of companies and individuals, including Tower Australia, former Trio Capital chief executive Shawn Richard, Pivotal Financial Advisers, Solutions Wealth Strategies, and Association of Independently Owned Financial Planners executive director Peter Johnston, and former WGI directors Peter Wood and Graham Kinder.
WGI was placed in liquidation on 30 September, when Ngan filed a special resolution with ASIC to wind up the company.
On the same day, Ngan resigned as WGI administrator and assumed the role of company liquidator at the request of WGI creditors.
In minutes of meetings of WGI creditors on 23 September, individual creditors continued to question the location of company assets, including alleged unpaid adviser commissions.
“The chairman [Ngan] responded that based on evidence, authorised representatives are unsecured creditors of the company and funds received from product providers are now mixed funds and were banked into the company’s operating bank account,” the minutes said.
The minutes noted one creditor requested it be noted that the company had mixed funds in its accounts.
