Brisbane-based construction director cops 5-year corporation ban
The failure of three construction companies over a three-year period has seen a Queensland company director disqualified from managing corporations for five years.
Wamuran’s Miroslav Jack Samardzija, was a director of three companies: Caboolture Developments Pty Ltd, Sinopacific Constructions Pty Ltd, and Land Invest Pty Ltd.
These companies, which were involved in Brisbane’s construction and building industry, went into liquidation between September 2019 and May 2021.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) said it had found that Samardzija “should be restrained from having the privilege of being a director after he used the corporate structure to his own ends and acted dishonestly”.
With the disqualification in place until 15 April 2029, ASIC found he had failed to comply with statutory obligations to lodge tax returns for Caboolture Developments and failed to provide the books and records for Caboolture Developments and Sinopacific Construction to the liquidator.
ASIC also said he had behaved dishonestly in the management of Caboolture Developments, having claimed GST refunds using false invoices and bank statements, and transferring company funds to the benefit other companies or related parties.
ASIC said that at the time of its decision to disqualify the director, the three companies combined owed more than $2.3 million to unsecured creditors, including approximately $1,031,522 to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
In disqualifying Samardzija, ASIC relied on a report lodged by the companies’ liquidator, Samuel Lam of Vincent’s Chartered Accountants. The business assisted to prepare the report after ASIC approved funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.
The decision from ASIC follows previous convictions and fines placed upon Samardzija, who had been penalised for failing to assist the liquidator of Sinopacific Constructions and Caboolture Developments. Samardzija had also been convicted and fined for contravening sections 475(2) and 530A(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Act) by failing to submit reports and books and records to the liquidator for Sinopacific Constructions, as well as fined for failing to provide the books and records for Caboolture Developments to the liquidator.
ASIC noted that section 206F of the Act allows the watchdog to disqualify a person from managing corporations for a maximum period of five years if, within a seven-year period, the person was an officer of two or more companies, and those companies were wound up and a liquidator provides a report to ASIC about each of the company’s inability to pay its debts.