Phoenix fund's future going Dodo

IT'S hard to know which is more mythical. The Phoenix – feathered metaphor for perpetual renewal - or successful applications to the Assetless Administration Fund (AAF). 

Launched in 2005 and administered by ASIC, the AAF has been a source of diminishing assistance in recent years.

In 2009/2010, ASIC doled out $3.17 million to insolvency practitioners with no cash and grounds for investigation. The following year they had to manage with $2.84 million. That shrank to $2.16 million in the year just past. AAF allocations prior to 2009/2010 are not made public.

Palm Beach down one bankrupt thanks to Interpol

Vanessa Morris-Jackson leaving
Federal Magistrates Court.
Photo: SiN Images

IT'S not often the burghers of Palm Beach have Interpol to thank for curtailing their community's recondite colony of bankrupts.

Usually the insolvency trustee's personal insolvency agreements limit bankrupt populations in exclusive suburbs, but this time the world police can take the credit.

And while the restraint is probably temporary, the fact remains that since July, bankrupt British businessman Tony Morris has been prevented from returning to his clifftop mansion on Whale Beach Road thanks to a so-called "red flag" attached to his passport.

The flag's presence is not so surprising. Until recently the UK authorities believed Mr Morris harboured an immoderate passion for the contents of certain British pension funds.

Streetscape DOCA open to challenge

Ozem Kassem:
Cor Cordis

TIME is running out for City of Sydney Council to reverse the deed of company arrangement (DOCA) approved at a recent meeting of creditors for the Moses Obeid-controlled firm Streetscape.

Under section 444B of the Corporations Law, a DOCA must be signed by the firm's directors within 15 business days. 

Shock bouquet for outcast Ariff

Struck-off and jailed ex-liquidator Stuart Ariff .
Photo: OptusZoo.net

STUART Ariff, the disgraced liquidator jailed for milking millions from companies under his administration, has been complimented for professionalism.

The surprise felicitation is contained in a submission to the Senate Economics Committee's inquiry into the post-GFC banking sector.

The author of the submission owned a painting firm in Forbes. In 2005 he and his then wife came under pressure from lender Bankwest. 

They decided to consult with Taylor Woodings about the possibility of appointing a voluntary administrator (VA).

Pascoe to tackle Obeid trusts if appeal bid fails

PPB Advisory's Scott Pascoe.
Image courtesy PPB Advisory.

PPB Advisory's Scott Pascoe has agreed to act as trustee in bankruptcy to the estate of Moses Edward Obeid, in the event the son of former NSW Labor minister Eddie Obeid fails in his bid to reverse a $12 million debt judgment.

Pascoe consented to act after the City of Sydney Council commenced creditors petition proceedings against Obeid in the Federal Court on June 5.


 The petition is the latest in a series of bankruptcy-related applications the council has pursued since February, 2012, when the Supreme Court finalized orders from its 2011 judgment awarding damages in the millions to the Council in its dispute over smart poles with 41 year-old Obeid and his company, Streetscape Projects (Australia).

EXCLUSIVE: Soul Patts snared in fraud fracas

A subsidiary of Washington H Soul Pattinson (WHSP) allegedly provided "dishonest assistance" to a $130 million pension fund fraud committed at the height of the global financial crisis.

Moses applies for FMC appeal

The $4.5 million Vaucluse home of Moses and Nicole Obeid.
Photo: SiN Images

THE woes keep multiplying for Moses Edward Obeid.

On June 25 the embattled businessman filed an interlocutory application in the Federal Court, seeking to adjourn a creditors petition filed in the same court by City of Sydney council.

Moses wants the adjournment so he can appeal a recent Federal Magistrate's Court judgement.