Vickie Anne Vella of Ropes Crossing, NSW, today appeared at the Penrith Local Court charged with dishonestly using her position as a director to gain an advantage for herself.

Ms Vella was charged with two offences of using her position as a director of Midcoast Reinforcement Pty Ltd (In Liquidation), and using her position as a director of Coast Reo Pty Ltd (In Liquidation) dishonestly with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage for herself, or causing detriment to the companies contrary to section 184(2)(a) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

As a result of an ASIC investigation, it is alleged that between about 4 August 2016 and 5 April 2018 Ms Vella transferred company funds to a credit card and other accounts and used the transferred funds for her personal use.  A total of approximately $1,565,298 was transacted or expended.

It is also alleged that the transfers and expenditure occurred while Midcoast owed the Australian Tax Office and creditors a total of $797,050.

Midcoast and Coast Reo subsequently went into liquidation owing $797,050 and $1,170,989 to creditors respectively.

The matter has been adjourned to 11 April 2025 for further mention.

This matter is being prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth).

Background

The maximum penalty at the time of the alleged offence was 2,000 penalty units or five years imprisonment or both.

ASIC commenced an investigation after receiving a funded report from Nick Combis of Vincents, the liquidator appointed to Midcoast Reinforcement Pty Ltd (In Liquidation) on 17 September 2019. ASIC provided funding to Mr Combis from the Assetless Administration Fund to investigate the matter.