iscover Illegal phoenix conduct leads to director disqualification
BusinessA Queensland director found to be enabling illegal phoenixing conduct and failing to pay taxes has been disqualified for managing companies for the maximum period of five years.
The corporate regulator has disqualified Lauren Darwin of Mount Gravatt, Queensland, from managing companies for the maximum period of five years due to her involvement in two failed companies.
The two companies were SE QLD Business Services Pty Ltd ACN 611 479 264 (SE QLD) and CCW Queensland Pty Limited ACN 607 611 610 (CCW QLD).
ASIC found that Ms Darwin took no reasonable steps to inform herself of the duties required of a director and neglected her responsibilities as a director.
She was also found to have failed to ensure that the companies paid all relevant taxes, failed to ensure that proper financial records were kept, failed to act in the best interests of the companies and enabled conduct that showed evidence of illegal phoenix activity.
The total amount of debts owed by the two companies to creditors was around $543,000.
In deciding to disqualify Ms Darwin, ASIC relied on reports lodged by Ahmad Zeidan of A2Z Insolvency Solutions, one of the liquidators of the failed companies.
ASIC assisted the liquidators of SE QLD and CCW QLD in preparing the supplementary reports that were used to disqualify Ms Darwin by providing funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.
Ms Darwin’s disqualification took effect from 19 March 2019 and extends to 18 March 2024.
Jotham Lian
Jotham Lian is the editor of Accountants Daily, the leading source of breaking news, analysis and insight for Australian accounting professionals.
Before joining the team in 2017, Jotham wrote for a range of national mastheads including the Sydney Morning Herald, and Channel NewsAsia.
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