Pleash and Albarran dodge Suncoast bullet

Blair Pleash
Photo: Hall Chadwick

Blair Pleash and Richard Albarran have avoided censure after a Federal Court judge ruled they had acted honestly when selling four cars and a property they weren't entitled to.

In his April 18 judgement, Federal Court justice John Reeves said that while the Hall Chadwick partners had breached Corporations and Trust law statutes in the disposal of assets of Suncoast Restoration Pty Ltd, they had done so unknowingly.

Not only that, the judge lay the blame for the mistake with the insolvency operator's former solicitors and lauded the unwittingly erring pair for moving swiftly to rectify the situation as soon as they learned there was a problem. Read the judgement here.

Pleash and Albarran were appointed joint administrators of Suncoast Resoration Pty Ltd in February, 2012. At that time Suncoast Restoration was sole trustee of a superannuation fund called the Allen's Asphalt Staff Superannuation Fund.

Unbeknownst to them, the appointment of administrators or the passing of a resolution to wind the company up in liquidation automatically disqualified Suncoast Restoration from its role as sole trustee of the super fund under a clause contained in the fund's trust deed.