Liquidators for Mammoth Civil have launched legal action against former director Allen Caratti and two other businesses to recover $9 million in debt.
Liquidators for embattled development company Mammoth Civil have launched legal action against former director Allen Caratti, and two other businesses in a bid to recover $9 million in debt.
Mammoth Civil is one of eight companies which operated under two trading entities owned by Mr Caratti - one of WA’s biggest land owners - and his de facto partner Tina Bazzo.
The two entities have been the subject of a decade-long investigation by the Australian Taxation Office and are now in liquidation.
GH1, which previously operated as Gucce Holdings under director Tina Bazzo, held most of the group’s land for development, while Mr Caratti served as director of MNWA, which conducted much of the development work.
This week, liquidators of Mammoth Civil filed two writs in the Supreme Court, both of which centre around allegedly unpaid invoices for works at two major land developments the company undertook while Mr Caratti served as director.
Liquidators have launched a case against East Perth-based Herdsman Technology, which allegedly engaged Mammoth Civil to undertake works for the development of land in Beckenham back in February 2014.
In the writ, the liquidators claim Herdsman Technology failed to pay five invoices Mammoth Civil issued, worth more than $7.59 million.
Liquidators further alleged that Mr Caratti breached his statutory duties while serving as director by failing to act in the best interests of the company.
Lawyers have sought a court order that would force Herdsman Technology to repay the $7.59 million and cover legal costs.
In the second case, liquidators for Mammoth Civil claim in their writ that Ms Bazzo’s civil engineering company Fastbet Investments failed to pay two invoices from July 2015 for $1.53 million in works undertaken for the development of Treendale in Australind.
According to the writ, liquidators are seeking the repayment of the debt and a court order that would force the company to cover the legal costs.
In both cases, liquidators have sought compensation and damages from Mr Caratti, as well as a declaration that his conduct breached the Corporations Act.
