THE banned liquidator Stuart Ariff has assets of $200 in cash and a claim for unpaid professional fees to satisfy his 37 creditors, who are owed $7.7 million.
The figures are contained in Mr Ariff’s formal statement of affairs that was lodged yesterday with his bankruptcy trustee, the CRS Warner Kugel partner Anthony Warner.
Mr Warner said he would ask creditors when they met this month to fund investigations into whether Mr Ariff had undeclared assets.
Mr Ariff valued the claim for unpaid fees, relating to his administration of the CarLovers group, at $12 million but a court case seeking the sum has been discontinued, recoverability is in doubt and the NSW Supreme Court has declared that Mr Ariff owes CarLovers compensation of $1.7 million.
CarLovers heads the largest group of Mr Ariff’s creditors, who were identified in a NSW Supreme Court order in August that directed him to pay $4.9 million in compensation for misappropriating funds from and mismanaging companies that had been formerly under his control as liquidator or administrator.
On an application from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the court banned Mr Ariff from insolvency practice for life.
The 46-year-old also disclosed a $255,000 debt to the Australian Taxation Office and bills of $480,000 owed to the Sydney law firm Deacons, $54,000 to the Newcastle law firm Turnbull Hill and $30,000 to the Melbourne law firm Mills Oakley.
Mr Ariff’s loans include $300,000 from a Mr and Mrs Y. Ariff, presumed to be his mother, Barbara, and his father, the former Malaysian ambassador Yusof Ariff. He also borrowed $250,000 from National Australia Bank, $100,000 from Aleasing and $40,000 from GE Finance.
Mr Warner said it was unlikely creditors would be able to call on Mr Ariff’s professional indemnity insurance, which was cancelled last year. If creditors did not agree to fund his investigations, his only option would be to apply to the Federal Government under section 305 of the Bankruptcy Act.
By Elisabeth Sexton, Sydney Morning Herald
December 2, 2009
