A former director of Kleenmaid today pleaded guilty to three charges arising out of the collapse of the national whitegoods distributor.

Appearing before Brisbane District Court, Gary Collyer Armstrong pleaded guilty to: 

• one count of dishonestly gaining loan facilities from Westpac Bank in November 2007 totalling $13 million; and
• two counts of insolvent trading, arising from debts incurred with Westpac in July 2008 totalling $3.5 million

Mr Armstrong will be sentenced on 2 October 2015. He was released on his own undertaking, however his passport has been surrendered to ASIC.

The trial of the other two former Kleenmaid directors, Andrew Eric Young and Bradley Wendell Young, was set to start on 17 August 2015. However, the trial date has been vacated and their matter will be mentioned on 2 October 2015 for further directions (refer: 14-064MR).

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting the matter.

Background

Kleenmaid entered voluntary administration in 2009 and liquidators reported consolidated debts of almost $100 million. ASIC brought criminal charges against the former directors in 2012 (refer: 12-27AD)