s 486A(2)(b) - "the Court is satisfied that there is at least a prima facie case that the officer, … is or will become liable: (i) to pay money to the company, whether in respect of a debt, by way of damages or compensation or otherwise; or (ii) to account for property of the company"
33 I have considered the affidavit evidence read by the plaintiff on this application and which was also before Yates J on the application before his Honour. Having done so, I am satisfied that there is a prima facie case that the defendant is or will become liable to pay money to Penny World for the reasons set out by his Honour. I am strengthened in that conclusion by the fact that the defendant read two affidavits, in whole or in part, on this application but did not seek to refute the evidence read by the plaintiff. This enables an inference to be drawn that the defendant's evidence on this point would not have assisted his case: see Motor Auction Pty Ltd v John Joyce Wholesale Cars Pty Ltd (1997) 138 FLR 118 at 126 (Santow J). In these circumstances, I respectfully adopt the summary of the evidence provided by Yates J in Arnautovic (No 1) at [8]-[10]:
8. The evidence before the Court was that [Penny World], under the control of the defendant, had been used as the vehicle for what appeared to be fraudulent conduct involving the obtaining of large sums of money from Scottish Pacific Business Finance Pty Ltd (ScotPac) under a debtor finance facility into which the company had entered. The evidence was that [Penny World] had obtained these sums from ScotPac in reliance on invoices that now appear to have been fabricated by [Penny World]. The evidence showed that ScotPac paid these funds into [Penny World's] bank account with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). The defendant is the sole signatory on that account. Amounts in round figures, corresponding to the deposited amounts, were, in most cases, almost immediately withdrawn and transferred to an account maintained by Wizly Pty Ltd (Wizly) with the CBA. The defendant is sole director, secretary, and shareholder of Wizly. [Penny World's] bank account with the CBA has a nil balance. It is not known whether, and if so what, funds sourced from the advances made by ScotPac, remain in Wizly's account. [Penny World] is presently indebted to ScotPac for $3,120,489.85.
9. As explained in Scottish Pacific v Qaqour, a perusal of [Penny World's] bank statements for its CBA account showed that withdrawals from the account appear to be related to personal expenditure (apparently, the defendant's personal expenditure), including overseas travel. In this latter regard, the bank statements show what is obviously the purchase of an airline ticket with Emirates, international ATM withdrawal fees, international transaction fees, in-flight service fees, hotel accommodation in Jordan, and expenditure in Dubai, to name just a few entries.
10. The evidence indicated that the defendant was not only using the money advanced to [Penny World] by ScotPac as his own money, but that these funds had provided him with the facility and means to travel overseas.
34 A more detailed description of that evidence is set out in Scottish Pacific (No 1) at [18]-[42].
35 The defendant's counsel made several submissions as to why I should not be satisfied that there is at least a prima facie case.
36 The first submission was that there is at present no case articulated by the plaintiff against the defendant, whether by letter of demand or a pleading. I accept that there is no letter of demand or pleading which sets out a prima facie case that the defendant is or will become liable to pay money to Penny World, however I do not accept that the expression of such a case by way of demand or pleading is required. It is not an express requirement of s 486A(2)(b), and I see no basis for implying such a requirement. This is particularly so when, as in the present case, applications under s 486A are likely to be made on an urgent basis. The existence or otherwise of a prima facie case falls to be assessed on the basis of the affidavit evidence before the Court.
37 The second submission was that the prima facie case found by Yates J related to contraventions of ss 181(1) and 182(1) of the Corporations Act; those provisions required the defendant to act in the best interests of the shareholder(s) of Penny World; and as the defendant was the sole shareholder of Penny World he was the only shareholder whose interests needed to be considered. I do not accept this submission for the following reasons:
(1) ss 181(1) and 182(1) are not limited to requiring a director to act in the best interests of the company of which he or she is a director. Section 181(1) also requires that the director exercise their powers and discharge their duties for a proper purpose; and s 182(1) does not invoke the concept of acting in the best interests of the corporation and is focussed upon improper use by a director of their position as director to gain an advantage for themselves or someone else, or to cause detriment to the corporation;
(2) the prima facie case put to Yates J and accepted by his Honour was not restricted to contraventions of ss 181(1) and 182(1). In Arnautovic (No 1) at [16], his Honour stated:
16. With reference to the requirements of s 486A(2)(b) of the Corporations Act, the plaintiff submitted that there was at least a prima facie case that the defendant is or will become liable to pay money to the company or to account for property of the company. The plaintiff submitted that there was a prima facie breach by the defendant of his fiduciary and statutory duties including, in particular, the duty under s 181(1) of the Corporations Act that the defendant exercise his powers and discharge his duties in good faith in the best interests of the company and for a proper purpose, and his duty under s 182(1) not to improperly use his position to gain an advantage for himself or someone else, or cause detriment to the corporation. The plaintiff submitted that: it was not in the company's best interests that the defendant caused the company to procure money from ScotPac by fraud leaving it with a large debt which, it seems, it has no means to repay; and it was not in the company's best interests that the defendant apparently obtained and used that money for his own purposes.
(emphasis added);
(3)the fiduciary duties owed by the defendant to Penny World as its director are not as limited as a duty to act in the best interests of Penny World; and
(4 )the submission conflates the interests of Penny World and the defendant. Those interests do not coincide simply because the defendant is the only shareholder of Penny World and it is necessary to consider the position of Penny World as a distinct and separate legal entity.
38 The third submission, which is related to the second, is that the withdrawals of funds from Penny World could be regarded as akin to operations in closely held companies where directors use the funds of the company, for example in lieu of salaries, and those funds are reconciled at the end of the financial year and properly accounted for. This submission fails for want of evidence. The defendant, who as noted above, made two affidavits for the purposes of this application, did not address this topic. This submission also conflates the distinct and separate interests of Penny World and the defendant.