The High Court is ordering former South Canterbury earthmoving business director Daniel O’Neill to pay more than $450,000 to the company, and it’s liquidators.
According to Stuff, Justice Warwick Gendall is ordering O’Neill to pay $447,055 plus interest towards creditor claims against the liquidated company, as well as another $9487.50, the amount made by company debtor Seaforth Farms deposited to his personal bank account.
In his judgement, Justice Gendall stated O’Neill Earthmoving had been insolvent for more than four years before liquidation in August 2016.
The company owed $343,428 to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue (CIR). This amount included $224,989 of unpaid GST, PAYE, and child support, and a separate claim of $118,439.
According to Justice Gendall, $100,021 is owing to other outstanding creditors.
“If Mr O’Neill had ceased trading shortly after the company became insolvent its outstanding debts to creditors, including the CIR, would have been significantly less,” says Gendall.
“If Mr O’Neill had undertaken a sober assessment of the company’s prospects after April 1, 2011, there can be no doubt that the company would have ceased trading much earlier than it did, and it would not have had the level of unpaid debts built up,” he says.
