A Victorian company director has been ordered to not manage corporations for three years after an Australian Securities and Investments Commission decision.
Mathew Craig Lynch of Langwarrin in Victoria was involved in three construction-industry related companies that failed.
The companies—Option One Construction Pty Ltd, Ultro Construction and Recruitment Services, and ACN 608 209 445 Pty Ltd—all entered liquidation between April 2015 and January 2022 while Lynch was director.
ACN 608 209 445 Pty Ltd was previously known as Ultro Construction and Recruitment (Sydney) Pty Ltd.
All three companies provided recruitment and labour hire services to the building industry in NSW.
ASIC found that Lynch did not comply with Australian Tax Office statutory obligations and failed to pay Business Activity Statements, payroll taxes and Superannuation Guarantee Charges for Option One Construction and Ultro Construction.
He also failed to pay workers’ compensation premiums for Ultro Construction or ensure that Option One Construction invoiced clients correctly for labour hire services or maintain appropriate financial records.
It also found that he did not deliver books in his possession to the liquidator as soon as possible after Ultro Construction was wound up or prevent insolvent trading by Option One Construction.
The three companies owed a combined total of $10.6 million to unsecured creditors including $730,020 to the ATO, at the time of ASIC’s decision.
Option One Construction’s liquidator Con Kokkinos of Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants and Ultro Construction’s liquidator Peter Malone of CRS Insolvency Services provided supplementary reports to ASIC.
ASIC used the reports in making its decision and assisted both Kokkinos and Malone via a grant from the Assetless Administration Fund.
Lynch now cannot manage corporations until July 10, 2026 under Section 206F of the Corporations Act and has a right to seek a review of the decision via the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
