Feud sees accountant struck off

The relentless feud between a Christchurch property developer and the accountant who was appointed to liquidate his companies has a new chapter.

In 2010, accountant Robert Walker was appointed liquidator of Christchurch property developer and businessman Dave Henderson’s collapsed Property Ventures group.

The appointment sparked an equally bitter and epic saga between the pair that is still ongoing.

Once hunted by Walker as the debtor, Henderson turned his misfortunes around and became a creditor of the liquidation. Then he began hunting Walker, who was suspended from the Institute of Chartered Accountants following a complaint made by Henderson in 2021.

Henderson alleged Walker intervened in several court proceedings involving him, therefore lacking objectivity in his role as liquidator, as well as breaching his privacy, among other things.

Walker has now been found guilty of misconduct in a professional capacity, conduct unbecoming of an accountant, and breaching the institute’s rules and code of ethics by its disciplinary tribunal. He’s been struck off the register and ordered to pay $188,000 in costs.

The tribunal considered whether to suspend Walker to allow him to reflect on his conduct, but “despite ample opportunity Mr Walker has made no endeavour to modify his behaviour. On the contrary, it has continued and escalated,” the tribunal’s decision, issued this week, said.

Walker made unjustifiable and “at times outrageous allegations” against those investigating the complaint, the decision found. The tribunal was satisfied that removing Walker’s name from its register appropriately reflected the seriousness of his misconduct. The costs incurred during the case were unusually high at just under $210,000. Over $135,000 related to the cost of the investigation, report and evidence of the Professional Conduct Committee’s investigator, David Webb.

The costs could have been reduced if Walker had been cooperative, the tribunal decision said. He often challenged the processes and personnel involved, adding considerably to the time it took to investigate.

Walker was ordered to pay the bulk of the costs of the case – just over $188,000.

Walker did not attend the hearing in front of the tribunal in October last year, instead filing lengthy written submissions two days before it went ahead. He has the right to appeal the decision and must do so within 21 days. The penalties against him do not take effect while he remains entitled to appeal, or while such an appeal awaits determination.

Walker told The Presst here was no point appealing the decision. “The whole thing is corrupt. They’ve got it wrong, they’ve got it legally wrong.”

The history between Walker and Henderson is as long as it is complicated. Walker, mainly due to the stress of the liquidation, has had several nervous breakdowns and run out of money to pursue legal battles. Contrastingly, Henderson has clawed his way back to a form of respectability, and has millions at his disposal.

It all began about 2010. Before the global financial crisis (GFC), entities associated with Henderson had borrowed millions to pursue property developments including Sol Square in Christchurch and a massive project called Five Mile in Frankton, just outside Queenstown.

When the GFC happened, the once unlimited credit dried up and Henderson's entities couldn't maintain their loan repayments. Henderson had personally guaranteed the loans, despite not owning anything in his own name, which led to him being bankrupted in November 2010. He was discharged from bankruptcy under restrictions imposed by then Associate Judge Rob Osborne (now Justice Osborne) in 2017.

By 2012, despite efforts by Henderson to have him removed, Walker was in full swing as liquidator of many of the companies in the Property Ventures group. Henderson and Walker were soon at each other's throats.

Various legal actions, settlements and strategic deals since – the pair are still going at it – resulted in Henderson taking Walker to court and complaining to the accountancy institute about him. Henderson has complained about Walker several times.

In his unsuccessful attempts to gain information from Henderson during the liquidation and enlist government agencies to help with his lack of co-operation, Walker became frustrated. This manifested itself in language and accusations described by the tribunal as unprofessional. They included him referring to Henderson in emails as “a silver tongued buffoon”, as well as “the most odious man alive” and “not a worthy adversary”.

People who start on the jobseeker benefit will have to attend a compulsory work seminar within two weeks or be sanctioned, Social Development Minister Louise Upston says.

Upston made the announcement, part of the National-coalition Government’s effort to get 50,000 people off the jobseeker benefit by 2030, at a jobs exposition in Porirua, yesterday morning.

“About 188,000 people currently receive Jobseeker Support but only about 53,000 of them have employment case managers at any given time, so early intervention is required to make sure the others are taking steps towards finding work,” Upston said.

New Jobseeker Support recipients will have to attend one of the seminars run by the Ministry of Social Development, called “Kōrero Mahi – Let’s Talk Work”, within a fortnight “to have their employment needs assessed and their next step decided”.

“If they’re ready to work, they could be helped to apply for a job. If they need retraining or upskilling, they could be referred to a programme that can help,” Upston said. “These compulsory work seminars will make sure all new jobseeker beneficiaries get the support they need and understand what’s expected of them.

“Those who do not attend without a good and sufficient reason could be sanctioned.”