ASIC has disqualified Lauren Darwin, Mount Gravatt, QLD from managing companies for the maximum period of five years due to her involvement in two failed companies.
ASIC found that Ms Darwin:
- took no reasonable steps to inform herself of the duties required of a director;
- neglected her responsibilities as a director;
- failed to ensure that the companies paid all relevant taxes;
- failed to ensure that proper financial records were kept;
- failed to act in the best interests of the companies; and
- enabled conduct that showed evidence of illegal phoenix activity.
The two companies were:
- SE QLD Business Services Pty Ltd ACN 611 479 264 (SE QLD), and
- CCW Queensland Pty Limited ACN 607 611 610 (CCW QLD)
In deciding to disqualify Ms Darwin, ASIC relied on reports lodged by Ahmad Zeidan of A2Z Insolvency Solutions, one of the liquidators of the failed companies. ASIC assisted the liquidators of SE QLD and CCW QLD in preparing the supplementary reports that were used to disqualify Ms Darwin by providing funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.
The total amount of debts owed by the two companies to creditors was around $543,000.
Ms Darwin’s disqualification took effect from 19 March 2019 and extends to 18 March 2024.
Background
Section 206F of the Corporations Act allows ASIC to disqualify a person from managing corporations for up to five years if, within a seven-year period, the person was an officer of two or more companies and those companies were wound up and a liquidator provides a report to ASIC about the company’s inability to pay its debts.
ASIC also maintains a 'Banned and Disqualified Persons' register that provides information about people who have been disqualified from:
- involvement in the management of a corporation;
- auditing self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs); or
- practising in the financial services or credit industry.