This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE corporate regulator has charged David Anderson, former chief financial officer of Octaviar (formerly MFS), which collapsed in 2008 owing $2.5 billion, with 26 counts of fraud.
ASIC alleges that between 18 June 2012 and 21 September 2015, Anderson, while a director of Octaviar Investment Holdings No 3 Pty Ltd (OIH3), dishonestly applied $4,611,571.86 of OIH3 money for his own use.
OIH3 was a subsidiary in the Octaviar.
At the time of the alleged conduct, Anderson was the sole director of OIH3.
The charges were brought against Anderson following an ASIC investigation into his conduct as the director of OIH3 and other companies in the Octaviar Group.
He was released on bail on condition and the matter adjourned to 2 September 2019 before the Southport Magistrates court for further mention.
Octaviar was the rebranded MFS, a Gold Coast-based ASX-listed company with interests in financial services, travel and leisure and childcare businesses.
It collapsed in 2008 owing $2.5 billion to a number of large creditors including the Public Trustee of Queensland which alleged it was owed $351 million; Challenger said it was owed $140 million; the Australian Taxation Office – $56 million; the Premium Income Fund and OPI Pacific Finance Limited owed $197 million and $300 million, respectively.
Octaviar was one of the high-profile property company collapses during the global financial crisis.
It blamed the tightening credit markets for its demise.
After selling off its businesses to pay $1.125 billion in debt, including the hospitality group Stella for $406 million, at $590 million loss, the company still had liabilities of $1.39 billion but total assets of just under $1 billion.
Australian Property Journal
