Wednesday 17 June 2015

Old phone taps could sink liquidator

PHONE taps made almost a decade ago during a Police Integrity Commission (PIC) investigation allegedly recorded a businessman and a prominent Sydney liquidator conspiring to stack creditors meetings for their mutual enrichment, confidential sources have told SiN.

The recordings - now in the possession of the NSW Fraud Squad - were created when PIC investigators tapped the phones of two serving police officers who had taken out loans from the businessman, who specialises in high risk commercial and property-backed loans.

According to SiN's sources, the businessman and the liquidator discussed appointing a controversial Sydney insolvency identity to various committees of creditors.

The idea was that that individual would then persuade other creditors to vote for resolutions favourable to the liquidator and the businessman.

The sources said the PIC did not initially refer the contents of the discussions to other authorities because it was concerned only with determining if the officers under investigation were being pressured by the businessman to pervert the course of justice. Conversations not directly relevant to the investigation were not a priority.

It's believed a NSW Fraud Squad investigation that led to fraud charges being laid against the businessman last year imbued the PIC recordings with fresh significance and they were subsequently passed on.

As more detail emerges SiN will update this evolving story, identifying those recorded by the telephone taps as soon as is practicable.

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