Queensland opposition leader David Crisafulli was not called to give evidence into court about a failed training organisation he had headed, even though liquidators summonsed other top brass to testify about the company’s collapse.
Liquidators have a “mandatory examination” power under the Corporations Act to call in officers of a company, such as directors, to question them under oath about what went wrong.
Court records show that a stream of former directors, a shareholder, and chief executives were summonsed to the 2017 hearings in Victoria’s Supreme Court about the failure of Southern Edge Training, which traded as SET Solutions and collapsed in June 2016.
But Victorian courts have no record of a summons being issued for Mr Crisafulli, who was sole director and chief executive for four months — during which time liquidators said SET Solutions might have been trading while insolvent.
Mr Crisafulli, who has denied the company was trading insolvent, years later paid $200,000 to settle liquidators’ claims, which the ABC exclusively revealed in August.
Insolvency industry sources said it was unusual to not summons a key person for a public hearing during the time of alleged insolvent trading.
Court records show SET Solutions’ chief executives before and after Mr Crisafulli’s tenure testified in court.
Mr Crisafulli has denied the company was trading insolvent. (AAP: Darren England)
Its directors in the two years before and after him either testified or were summonsed, although the last director for the company’s final three months had his summons adjourned and ultimately did not appear in court.
Mr Crisafulli and the PwC liquidators have declined to comment on whether any agreement was reached about him being required to testify at the hearings. A source with knowledge of the liquidation indicated Mr Crisafulli had cooperated with liquidators so no summons was required.
Crisafulli took job following election loss
After losing his first seat in parliament in early 2015, Mr Crisafulli took up the job with SET Solutions in December 2015 following a recommendation from Townsville businessman, Rabieh Krayem, whose other company had donated to the LNP and who had just acquired half the training business.
SET Solutions had long been struggling before Mr Crisafulli arrived. He resigned from the company in April 2016 and was back in parliament by 2018.
The issue of SET Solutions has shadowed the campaign for the LNP, which polls predict will beat the incumbent ALP this month.
On Friday, Mr Crisafulli again declined to answer questions, including how he paid the $200,000 liquidators’ settlement in 2020 and 2021.
He maintained that he was being asked “some personal questions” and had made every required declaration.
Mr Crisafulli also repeated that he had “met my obligations”.
When it was put to him that he was not obliged to settle any liquidators’ claim and had instead chosen to do so, Mr Crisafulli responded: “That’s not the case at all, you have obligations when you are a director.”
