Developer’s lifestyle faces court scrutiny
Bankrupt property developer Dave Henderson has told a court a reasonable yearly amount for his and his wife’s personal expenses is $60,000 to $70,000.
Henderson, 60, is under public examination in the High Court in Christchurch before Associate Judge Rob Osborne to decide if he can be discharged from bankruptcy.
He was adjudicated bankrupt in November 2010, with selfacknowledged debts of about $142 million.
The Official Assignee ( OA) objects to his discharge and alleges he controlled payments from a bank account in the name of AFB Treasury Ltd and was the key figure in business dealings in breach of his obligations as a bankrupt.
Henderson has spent the week being examined on his assertions he did not authorise payments, conduct property deals, lead negotiations or control bank accounts while a bankrupt.
He says he acted on directions, gave advice or just assisted in the dealings.
OA counsel Jacinda Foster has put numerous emails to Henderson asking for explanations in the light of his answers.
Evidence has been heard about money going out of AFB’s bank account to pay personal expenses incurred by Henderson and his wife Kristina Buxton, who, as a couple, maintain two residences through company identities.
Judge Osborne said on Friday it appeared from the best data available to him, the Henderson family was getting payments of around $60,000 to 70,000 for personal expenses each year of his bankruptcy.
The judge referred Henderson to a general comment he made to insolvency officers that about $60/70,000 was reasonable for his expenses.
Henderson said the amount spent on travel had to be taken off that and he added the caveat a ‘‘whole bunch of stuff in there’’ would have to come out as well because it related to work for his entities.
He said rentals earned by a company (St Asaph Investments 2011 Ltd which held 10 commercial units) owned by his trust were not initially allowed to be disbursed from an account without the permission of the mortgagee.
Despite the mortgagee saying this arrangement had not changed, he believed his accountant Wayne Bailey had organised changes with the mortgagee and rental money could go to the AFB account to be used for his expenses.
In other evidence Henderson said in 2012 he had negotiated with the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority and NZI on behalf of Odeon Property Ltd but he had not made financial decisions.
He was aware NZI wanted him off the negotiations and Foster put to him an email showing NZI was not satisfied he was not making financial decisions.
When asked if he was still involved in authorising payments from the AFB account this year, he said he was only involved in discussions.
That was also his contribution to organising a loan from Secured Lending (a Taurus entity) of $50,000 for A Dog’s Show Ltd, of which his wife was a director, but he couldn’t recall exactly what the loan was for.
He thought the security might have been provided by his friend Ian Hyndman.
It would quite possibly be him making email requests about the loan to Taurus finance broker Geoff Angus, he said.
The hearing resumes Tuesday.
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