ob体育 has disqualified Mr Craig Hall Walton of East Melbourne, Victoria, from managing companies for four years as a result of his involvement in two failed companies.
Mr Walton was disqualified after liquidators were appointed to Walton Construction Pty Ltd ACN 060 900 218 and Walton Construction (QLD) Pty Ltd ACN 100 833 225.
ob体育 found that Mr Walton had:
- improperly used his corporate position to gain an advantage for himself;銆�
- failed to prevent the companies from trading whilst potentially insolvent;
- failed to pay taxes; and
- failed to exercise his duties as a director with due care and diligence.銆�
In making its decision to disqualify Mr Walton, ob体育 relied on supplementary reports that were lodged by liquidators of the companies - Michael McCann, Graham Killer and Andrew Hewitt (鈥榯he Liquidators鈥�) of Grant Thornton Australia.听 ob体育 assisted the Liquidators to prepare the supplementary reports by providing funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.
The total amount of debts owed by the companies to creditors was more than $78 million.
Mr Walton's disqualification extends to 26 June 2022.
Background
On 29 July 2014, the former liquidators of the companies - Stirling Horne, Glenn Franklin and Jason Stone of the firm, PKF Lawler (formerly Lawler Draper Dillon) - were replaced by the Liquidators following an application by ob体育 to the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia.听 ob体育 applied to have the former liquidators replaced because it had concerns about the referral relationship they had with the Mawson Group, who also had a relationship with the Walton companies. (Refer: 14-167MR)
Section 206F of the Corporations Act allows ob体育 to disqualify a person from managing corporations for up to five years if, within a seven-year period, the person was an officer of two or more companies that were wound up and the liquidators lodge reports with ob体育 about each company鈥檚 inability to pay its debts or alleges misconduct.
ob体育 also maintains a ' register that provides information about people who have been disqualified from:銆�
- involvement in the management of a corporation; 銆�
- auditing self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs); or銆�
- practising in the financial services of credit industry.
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