On 18 March 2022, former Kleenmaid director Andrew Eric Young pleaded guilty to aggravated fraud and insolvent trading charges in connection with the collapse of the Kleenmaid group of companies.

Mr Young was sentenced to three years jail for fraud to be suspended after 336 days which has already been served and six months jail for insolvent trading with immediate release on a recognisance.

Mr Young pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated fraud by dishonestly causing $330,000 to be withdrawn from a Kleenmaid company bank account two days prior to administrators being appointed. Mr Young transferred the funds to a bank account held by a company in which he held an interest and from which he and his wife would benefit.

Mr Young also pleaded guilty to one rolled-up insolvent trading count involving five debts incurred by EDIS Service Logistics (one of the Kleenmaid companies) with CEO Global Logistics for supply services. The debts were incurred at a time when EDIS Service Logistics could not pay its debts and Mr Young was acting as a defacto director of EDIS. 

Mr Young had already served 336 days in custody while awaiting the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland in relation to his earlier conviction and sentence on 19 charges (20-207MR). That time was declared as having been already served in relation to the sentence imposed on 18 March 2022 and Mr Young will not serve any additional jail time.

Upon sentencing, Judge Byrne, QC, remarked that the timing of Mr Young’s plea and lack of prior offer to do so indicated his lack of remorse and that despite character references, in the hour of need Mr Young showed himself to be a man of greed. 

The charges against Mr Young arose out of the collapse of the Kleenmaid group. At the time of the collapse, the consolidated debts of the Kleenmaid group amounted to approximately $96 million, which included $26 million owed to customers who had paid deposits for white goods that had not yet been delivered. 

The ASIC investigation into Kleenmaid resulted in successful prosecutions of other officers of Kleenmaid for charges of insolvent trading and fraud (15-225MR; 15-283MR; 16-248MR; 16-257MR).

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

ASIC assisted the liquidators of the Kleenmaid group in preparing their supplementary reports by providing funding from the Assetless Administration fund.

Background

Mr Young had previously been convicted and sentenced to nine years imprisonment (20-207MR) over charges relating to the Kleenmaid group of companies. However, he appealed his conviction and sentence (21-138MR) and while awaiting the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland was imprisoned for 11 months. 

Although the Court of Appeal found that Mr Young’s convictions were neither unreasonable nor unsupported by the evidence, it held that the trial judge had erred by not referring the question of whether Mr Young was fit to be tried to the jury to decide. A new trial was ordered on all counts.

Kleenmaid was a white goods importer and retailer which operated a chain of company and franchised stores across Australia. The business was founded by Andrew Young in 1980.

Based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, the Kleenmaid group of companies employed about 200 staff Australia-wide.

Administrators were appointed to the Kleenmaid group of companies on 9 April 2009.