THE former wife of notorious Newcastle conman Lemuel Page has failed in a last-ditch bid to rescue her floundering property business from the hands of a liquidator.
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Fiona Page asked the Supreme Court to terminate the liquidation of Parkway One Pty Ltd, claiming the company is now able to pay its debts.
But liquidator Andrew Scott, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, argued strongly against the move, detailing a host of concerns about the company's solvency and "commercial morality".
Parkway One holds property across Newcastle and Sydney worth millions, including a boarding house in Cooks Hill, an apartment that overlooks Newcastle Beach, where Page and his long-time partner bodybuilder Renay Bull used to live, and properties in Cardiff and Ashford, Sydney.
Mr Scott told the court he held concerns about Parkway One's dealings with another company, Elefteria Properties, that was liquidated in June 2017, but used to be controlled by Ms Page and her ex-husband, Lemuel, who was convicted of fraud in July 2017 for selling a friend a fake diamond ring for $85,000.
The Newcastle Herald revealed how dozens of Hunter investors and tradespeople trusted Lemuel Page, a notorious Newcastle scam artist, with their money and lost it.
Before Elefteria Properties was placed in liquidation, the boarding house, Newcastle Beach apartment and properties in Cardiff and Ashford were purchased by Parkway One, that is owned and controlled by Ms Page.
The court heard "the transfer of the properties was said to be a form of property settlement" between Ms Page and Lemuel Page.
To assist with the purchases, Ms Page also received a loan from a long-time friend of her ex-husband, Theo Baker, who was a dot.com entrepreneur listed on the BRW Rich 200 list in 2001 before being declared bankrupt in 2014.
Despite the couple's separation, Lemuel Page continues to be involved in Parkway One's business affairs.
Mr Scott was appointed liquidator of Parkway One in August following a winding up application in 2018 by the body corporate of the Ashford property for $18,000 in unpaid strata fees.
Justice Kelly Rees refused to terminate the liquidation listing concerns about the company's "long history of non-payment of trade creditors" and failure to keep proper books and records.
She also raised concerns that Parkway One used $130,000 in cash to make payments to creditors from a Sydney and Port Douglas post office over five days in the weeks before the court hearing and further cash payments were made "shortly before the hearing".
"Whilst cash remains a legal form of payment in this country, I am troubled by the amount of cash that has been used in recent times to pay creditors of the company," she said.
Justice Rees described Ms Page's attitude towards a creditor seeking payment as "indignant rather than apologetic" and said it was "cause for concern" that she previously failed to provide information to the liquidator of Elefteria Properties, despite his repeated requests.
"I am not sufficiently assured that, if the winding up is terminated, that the company will operate in a financially sound and reasonable way, servicing foreseen indebtedness," she said.
In an effort to demonstrate that Parkway One could pay its debts, Ms Page told the court that the Newcastle Beach apartment was leased to Kevin Fuller as a "fully serviced apartment" for more than $10,000 per month.
In response, Justice Kelly noted "some curious features of this tenancy" and information provided to substantiate it.
"The narrations on the heavily redacted bank statements provided by Ms Page do not record the payments as rent, nor refer to Mr Fuller, but simply record transfer," she said.
"Only the last payment was made to a bank account of Parkway One, being made shortly before the hearing. The bulk of the monies were paid to Shyzi Pty Ltd, a company of which Ms Page is a director and Mr Page was a former director and shareholder.
"The rent payable under the lease is well above market rent, being some $3000 according to a rental appraisal obtained by the liquidator or $5000 a month according to the advertisement for an apartment in the same building which was recently sold.
"Whilst Ms Page says this is because the apartment is serviced, this is not recorded in the lease. The expenses included in a cash flow projection relied on by Ms Page to support the solvency of the company going forward do not include expenses one might expect to see if the Newcastle property was a serviced apartment."
Refusing to terminate the winding up of Parkway One, Justice Kelly said she was not satisfied the company was solvent.
"It does not seem to me that the company may safely be released from external administration and returned to the mainstream of commercial life under the control of Ms Page," she said.
