Daniel Zeidan of Kinglake, Victoria has been disqualified from managing companies for four years due to his involvement in the failure of three companies.

Mr Zeidan was a director of three hospitality companies that went into liquidation between August 2018 and December 2019, namely:

• 5 Ships at Sea Pty Ltd (A.C.N. 135 687 115) (Cinq);
• The Umpire Strikes Back Pty Ltd (A.C.N. 166 315 662) (Umpire); and
• 4 Ships at Sea Pty Ltd (A.C.N. 150 888 805) (Quatre).

In making its decision to disqualify Mr Zeidan, ASIC found that, in respect of Cinq and Umpire, he:

• failed to exercise his powers and discharge his duties with the degree of care and diligence required of a reasonable director;
• failed to properly use his position as a director and gained an advantage for himself or someone else, or caused detriment to the company;
• may have continued to trade while insolvent;
• did not understand his directors’ duties to effectively provide appropriate management and direct the company; and
• had no awareness of the way in which his management of the companies may have fallen below the standard expected of a director.

The total amount owed to creditors by the three companies exceeded $2.3 million, including more than $1.35 million owed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). 

In making its decision to disqualify Mr Zeidan, ASIC’s Delegate relied on supplementary reports lodged by the liquidator of Cinq, Con Kokkinos of Worrels, and the liquidators of Umpire, Nicholas Giasoumi and Shane Deane of Dye & Co. ASIC assisted the liquidator of Umpire to prepare a supplementary report by providing funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.

Mr Zeidan is disqualified from managing corporations until 14 July 2025.

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 of credit industry.

Editor’s note:

On 22 July 2021, Mr Zeidan filed an application for review of ASIC’s disqualification decision with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. A hearing date has not been set.

Editor's note 2:

On 23 September 2021, Mr Zeidan withdrew his application for review of ASIC’s disqualification decision with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.