THE banned liquidator, Stuart Ariff, was by turns tearful and combative in the Federal Magistrates Court yesterday after spending a night ‘’staring at a light bulb” in a central Sydney police cell.
Mr Ariff was arrested in St Leonards on Wednesday evening after failing to attend examinations by his bankruptcy trustee on Monday and Tuesday.

Two Australian Federal Police officers accompanied him to the court in Goulburn Street, half a kilometre from the police station in Surry Hills where he stayed the night.

The registrar, Paddy Hannigan, discharged the police but warned Mr Ariff that she did not want to issue another warrant if he absconded.

Mr Ariff is due back in court today to answer more questions as his trustee, Anthony Warner, tries to recover funds for creditors.

The largest group of creditors are yet to receive the $4.9 million Mr Ariff was ordered by the NSW Supreme Court to pay in compensation for misappropriating funds from companies of which he was the liquidator or administrator.

Yesterday, he broke down when he was asked to give his name and date of birth for the court record.

When he was handed documents relating to his financial affairs he said: ”I’m not looking through any bundle of documents today; what I’ve been through last night was amazing.”

Later he said: ”I’ve had two hours’ sleep staring at a light bulb so I’m a bit blurry”.

He also became tearful when he spoke about strains in his marriage and said he was unable to remember much of the events of 2008 and 2009 because of ”what I have been through in the last couple of months, with my mother being very sick”.

In contrast, he was forthright when answering questions about family trusts and companies involving his wife, Kathleen Clark, his parents, Yusof and Barbara Ariff, and his sister, Yazni Ariff.

Asked about claims on his bankrupt estate from relatives and their companies for hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said they were owed the money because they had paid his legal bills.

Mr Ariff was bankrupted in October, two months after Justice Patricia Bergin ordered him to pay the $4.9 million and banned him for life from the insolvency profession.

The judge said his ”appalling” misconduct included using creditors’ funds to pay for holidays and failing to pay employee superannuation.

Ms Clark and Yazni Ariff have been summonsed to appear at the examinations in August.

ELISABETH SEXTON
July 2, 2010