ASIC has disqualified recruitment director John William Anderson of Crows Nest, New South Wales, from managing corporations for five years after his involvement in two failed companies.

Between 2012 and 2022, Mr Anderson was a director of:

• Sinclair Recruitment (NSW) Pty Ltd ACN 161 184 390 (‘SR-NSW’); and
• Top Executive Recruitment Pty Ltd ACN 161 184 578 (‘TER’).

Both companies provided recruitment services.

ASIC found that Mr Anderson failed to exercise his powers and discharge his duties with the requisite degree of care and diligence by:

• allowing TER to make payments to himself and his wife, Kay Elizabeth Sinclair which led to increased debt and caused detriment the Australian Taxation Office (ATO);
• allowing both companies to continue trading whilst insolvent;
• failing to ensure both companies maintained adequate books, including lodgement of business activity statements and taxation returns with the ATO.

The total amount owed to unsecured creditors, including the ATO, is in excess of $4.4million.

In disqualifying Mr Anderson, ASIC relied on supplementary reports lodged by SR-NSW’s liquidator, Jason Tang of Cor Cordis, Sydney and TER’s liquidator, Steven Nicols of Nicols and Brien Business Recovery Pty Ltd, Sydney. ASIC assisted Mr Nicols to prepare his report by providing funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.

Mr Anderson is disqualified from managing corporations until 22 May 2027.

Mr Anderson has the right to seek a review of ASIC’s decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Background

Ms Sinclair, who was a director of related entities in the recruitment industry, has recently been disqualified by ASIC from managing corporations until 18 October 2023 (refer: 21-334MR).

Section 206F of the Corporations Act allows ASIC to disqualify a person from managing corporations for a maximum period of 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 each of the company’s inability to pay its debts.

ASIC 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.