Holidaying while owing millions
Liquidators are seeking legal advice after the directors of an insolvent Nelson company chose to go on an overseas holiday rather than respond to questions about how their company accrued debts currently totalling nearly $4 million.
Nevil Basalaj and his spouse Amber, who ran boatbuilding company Nelson Reliance Engineering, had gone on a ‘‘family holiday’’, liquidator Rhys Cain confirmed, while the business owed creditors more than $3.7m.
The latest liquidators’ report showed that $69,927 of the total $3,842,008 in creditor claims had been paid out. More than 170 companies from across the country were among unsecured creditors, owed $3.2m of that total.
Staff were due nearly $47,000, with Inland Revenue’s claim for $482,576 outstanding after the company went into liquidation in March 2018.
Liquidators had identified a ‘‘substantial transaction of interest’’ that they believed might be voidable and/or recoverable, and were seeking details on further transactions of a similar nature.
They were continuing to pursue the recovery of a preliquidation debtor balance owed by a related party, Cain said.
‘‘We have tried to arrange to meet with Mr and Mrs
Basalaj about these [matters].
‘‘But unfortunately, they have advised us through their lawyer that they’re going to be too busy, away on a muchanticipated family holiday overseas, and are not available to respond to our inquiries about that information until the end of May.’’ The response was ‘‘pretty disappointing’’, Cain said.
‘‘We have advised them that we are not prepared to wait that long, and we will be proceeding with the next appropriate steps.’’ He would be taking legal advice on the options, he said. ‘‘We’re still seeking financial records and other data, but at the moment we’re only expecting the amount that we will be claiming from them to increase.’’
Liquidators had spoken with the Inland Revenue Department to assist their investigation, the report said.
The couple were reported to be holidaying in the United States, the country they were also said to be visiting in October, when the last six-monthly liquidators’ report came out.
Attempts by Stuff to reach Amber Basalaj on her mobile phone on Wednesday were unsuccessful. She did not respond to an email request for comment by the time of print.
‘‘I guess the question that everyone would be wondering is, where is the money coming from? And one would hope that it isn’t from the company that’s in liquidation,’’ Cain said.
There was nothing to stop the couple going on holiday if they had another company that was doing well, he said.
Nevil Basalaj is a shareholder in Fluid Power Solutions, and director of both Basalaj Properties and Basalaj Racing.
He sold Reliance Engineering umbrella company, Challenge Marine, last June.
Unsecured creditor, Nelson business Nicholson Protective Coatings, is owed well in excess of $200,000 by Nelson Reliance Engineering.
It remained to be seen if voidable transactions, alluded to by liquidators, would mean the company would get any of that money back, managing director Dane Nicholson said.
‘‘They may be able to claw some money back. Whether there’s going to be enough to clear secure creditors and bank debt before we get any, I don’t know.’’
Hearing that the Basalajs had gone on overseas holidays was a kick in the guts to many local businesses owed money by Nelson Reliance Engineering, he said.
‘‘If they were interested in the people they’ve been doing business with, then they’d use some of that money to put things right.’’