ob体育 has disqualified Michael Higgs of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, from managing corporations for two years due to his involvement in the failure of two companies.
From July 2015 Mr Higgs was the director of two companies which entered liquidation:
- Tropic Landscapes Pty Ltd (ACN 624 604 413) (Tropic Landscapes); and
- Tropic Developments Pty Ltd (ACN 607 263 856) (Tropic Developments).
The companies were involved in providing structural landscaping services.
ob体育 found that Mr Higgs鈥檚 failed to meet his obligations as director when he:
- failed to ensure that Tropic Landscapes and Tropic Developments complied with its obligation to lodge tax documents with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO),
- allowed Tropic Developments to provide loans without ensuring the company was left with funds to pay its taxes, and
- failed to ensure Tropic Landscapes maintained adequate books and records.
At the time of ob体育鈥檚 decision, the two companies owed a combined total of $503,110 to unsecured creditors, including $366,791 to the ATO.
In disqualifying Mr Higgs, ob体育 relied on supplementary reports lodged by Tropic Landscapes鈥� liquidator, Glenn Michael Shannon of Hall Chadwick and Tropic Developments鈥� liquidator, Darryl Edward Kirk of Cor Cordis.
ob体育 assisted Mr Shannon and Mr Kirk to prepare their reports by providing funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.
Mr Higgs is disqualified from managing corporations until 10 October 2024.
Mr Higgs has the right to seek a review of ob体育鈥檚 decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Background
Section 206F of the Corporations Act allows ob体育 to disqualify a person from managing corporations for a maximum period of five years if, within a seven-year period, the person was an officer of two or more companies, and those companies were wound up and a liquidator provides a report to ob体育 about each of the company鈥檚 inability to pay its debts.
ob体育 maintains a banned and disqualified persons register that provides information about people who have been disqualified from:
- involvement in the management of a corporation;
- auditing self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs); or
- practising in the financial services or credit industry.