Current
Position
In the 12 months to March 2009, the following
key events have occurred:
+
The
Liquidators have settled 18 unfair preference claims against creditors.
+
The
Receivers and Managers have settled their legal claims against the former
auditors of Harris Scarfe. The
Receivers and Managers advised that there was no surplus arising from these
settlements that would become available for return to unsecured creditors.
We also note that ASIC has completed its
investigations and finalised all legal proceedings against the management of
the Group.
The Liquidators are continuing to pursue the
remaining 9 unfair preference claims against creditors. It may be some time before these claims
are resolved in the Courts.
There are still a number of issues that must be resolved before the
Liquidators can conclusively determine whether a dividend will be able to be
declared.
On 30 June 2003, the Liquidators issued a
declaration to shareholders pursuant to section 104-145 of the Income Tax
Assessment Act 1997. The
declaration is available from this site.
Next
Stage
In accordance with the Liquidator’s
duties pursuant to the Corporations Act 2001, the Liquidators will continue to:
+
Report
to ASIC on the conduct of the directors as appropriate;
+
Monitor
the conduct of the Receiver and Manager of the Harris Scarfe Group;
+
Pursue
recovery of the remaining unfair preference claims;
+
Pay
the costs of the liquidations and certain priority claims, including employee
entitlements (where applicable); and
+
Complete
the liquidations and apply for deregistration of each of the companies in the
Harris Scarfe Group.