As every schoolboy and my deceased dog knows, section 206B(3) of the Corporations Act 2001 says:
"3. A person is disqualified from managing corporations if the person is an undischarged bankrupt under the law of Australia, its external territories or another country...."
My hearing is not all that good but when a shareholder asked Bottazzi "ARE YOU A DISCHARGED BANKRUPT" I am fairly sure he answered "NO".
I asked a couple of shareholders who took detailed minutes of the meeting from opposite sides of the room and they confirmed that he did say "NO".
Bottazzi may not have meant "No" but that is what I heard him say before the CEO launched into his histrionics and derailed the interrogation by talking about the board having done "Dewdallydance" on Bottazzi's appointment. As I said my hearing is not all that good and I couldn't find this term defined in my Legal Dictionary.
I hope this is not the same "Dewdallydance" they did when they bought the lease to the Royal Melbourne Hotel from a former PPN director. What a money pit black hole that was!
The question I really wanted to ask before the CEO's histrionics was whether being found guilty of tax evasion was an automatic disqualification from managing corporations under section 206B(1)of the Corporations Act 2001.
Now I have to go to the bother of asking ASIC to answer this question unless someone with a legal brain can clarify section 206B(1) for me.
My personal view is that if a person has been found guilty of tax evasion in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Federal Court then they have already stolen from me as an honest taxpaying citizen of Australia. Section 206B(1) therefore makes a lot of sense if it includes tax evaders.
In paragraph 43 of Judge Gordon's decision in "Commissioner of Taxation v Burness (As Trustee for the Property of Bottazzi , A Bankrupt) [2009] FCA 1021 (14 September 2009)it says:
"..... On balance, I am satisfied that here there was an avoidance of tax due to evasion and, consequently, the amended assessment was valid....."
If the PPN board had done its "Dew Dallydance" they could have read the decision on the following link:
Judge Gordon's decision in the Federal Court of Australia on 14 September 2009 considered Bottazzi's appeal:
"COMMISSIONER OF TAXATION v PAUL ANDREW BURNESS (AS TRUSTEE FOR THE PROPERTY OF ROBERT BOTTAZZI , A BANKRUPT)
and
MORGAN GERARD JAMES LANE (AS TRUSTEE FOR THE PROPERTY OF ROBERT BOTTAZZI , A BANKRUPT) VID 905 of 2008
and
Bottazzi and Commissioner of Taxation [2008] AATA 890 (6 October 2008)
Bottazzi says he won his case against the ATO but after an extensive search, I can find no evidence of an appeal against the FCA decision of 14 September 2009. I have however found Bottazzi's case quoted as a leading case' in a number of other tax evasion cases in the context of the penalty to be applied.
PPN Price at posting:
20.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
