The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has disqualified Laurence Christopher Pereira from managing any companies for up to five years. The financial watchdog accused Pereira of “a serious level of misconduct” and said that he had “demonstrated behaviours well below the standard expected of Australian company directors”.
ASIC Disqualifies QLD Executive For Five Years
The regulator keeps a register of “banned and disqualified” individuals to inform and warn companies and employees. Individuals on this record have been either disqualified from managing a company, auditing self-managed superannuation funds, or fulfilling a financial role in an organisation.
Pereira reportedly managed four companies that were liquidated. ASIC listed these as East Coast Services Group Pty Ltd, Proactive Energy Pty Ltd, PG Projects Pty Ltd and LP Finance Ltd, indicating that all of them operated in Brisbane.
After investigating, ASIC determined that Pereira had neglected to maintain proper financials and did not comply with Australian Taxation Office requirements, including the payment of taxes and employee duties. Other charges included abusing a senior position to benefit himself and others, and transferring operations from one company to another without settling debts.
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ASIC said that when it resolved to disqualify Pereira, the four relevant companies owed unsecured creditors $4,006,382 AUD. This included $1,031,357 AUD in outstanding wages, superannuation and employee entitlements. In its press release, ASIC said:
In disqualifying Mr Pereira, ASIC relied on supplementary reports lodged by liquidators, Bill Karageozis of McLeod’s Accounting and David Clout of David Clout & Associates. ASIC assisted Mr Karageozis and Mr Clout to prepare their statutory reports by providing funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.
