Mr Peter Mavridis, the former chief executive of the of S Central Group, has been found guilty by the County Court of Victoria in relation to 33 charges brought by ASIC.

The S Central Group – which consisted of S Central Pty Ltd, S Central (NSW) Pty Ltd, S Central Products Pty Ltd, Expressapps Pty Ltd and Infotronics Software Pty Ltd – provided information technology services to customers in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. 

Between January and September 2009, Mr Mavridis directed the financial controller of the group to submit duplicated and/or falsely inflated invoices to National Australia Bank Ltd under a debtor factoring agreement, which led to credit totalling approximately $4.8 million being advanced to companies within the S Central Group. 

Debtor factoring involves the assigning of debts that are owed in exchanged for credit advanced by a finance provider. In order to retain ongoing access to bank credit, Mr Mavridis signed end-of month reconciliations that disguised the falsifications and had them submitted to the bank. 

The S Central Group companies entered into liquidation at various times between November 2009 and April 2010, leaving total deficiencies in excess of $7 million.

Mr Mavridis was yesterday found guilty by a jury of 23 counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and 10 counts of false accounting under the Victorian Crimes Act.

Mr Mavridis was granted bail and ordered to appear for a sentencing hearing in the week commencing 9 November 2015.

The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Background

[This MR was redacted on 13/11/2023 in accordance with ASIC policy - see INFO 152 Public comment on ASIC's regulatory activities.]