Troubled builder’s $240m licence suspended
Queensland’s building regulator has suspended the $240m licence of national development company Descon Group Australia as it battles wind-up action and its banned director faces mounting support to bankrupt him.
The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) moved on Thursday night to suspend Descon for “failure to comply with an audit”.
Descon is currently building the stalled Waverley Residences highrise in Southport, which is more than a year over schedule.
It came three weeks after the company’s director Danny Isaac, a former bankrupt who is also known as Sami Adib, was banned from the industry for three years.
The licence suspension has also led the Queensland government’s Department of Public Works to take action on Descon’s prequalification registration, which allowed it to take on government contracts worth more than $1m.
Responding to questions to Mr Isaaac, lawyer Clint Kanther said Descon’s licence suspension was “temporary”.
“Such action has only been taken as our client is finalising their accounts,” he said.
“The accounts will be finalised shortly and the suspension lifted.”
ASIC has told the liquidator of one of his companies that they had been “unable to locate and contact” Mr Isaac, understood to have been staying with family in Dubai since late last year.
Descon Group Australia is facing wind-up action by a group of creditors, due to return to court on March 20.
Descon Qld is also facing wind-up action, brought in December by demolition group Demex, which has 12 supporting creditors, including the tax office.
It is due back in court on
March 14. Mr Isaac was banned from holding a Queensland builder licence, or from running a licensed company, until December 8, 2026.
Mr Kanther said his client would be defending bankruptcy proceedings due in court next week.
Rival developer and former Descon employee Anthony Quinn sparked the proceedings, which have been joined by Metroll, Get Directed Traffic Control & Labour Hire and Rapid Metal Developments and returns to court on Wednesday, March 6.