A NEWCASTLE development company claiming it is owed almost $4 million has provided funding for a liquidator to further investigate the conduct of failed Hunter construction company DSD Builders.
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Notorious Hunter duo Daniel Roberts and Shashanth Shankar Tellakula Gowrishankar are under investigation as to whether they were shadow directors of DSD Builders that was placed in the hands of liquidator Shumit Banerjee, of Westburn Advisory, in February.
The company, that has Mr Roberts former partner Angela Edith Roberts as its sole director, is estimated to owe at least $4.9 million.
In a report to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) this month, Mr Banerjee confirmed that he had still not been provided with any information from the director about the company's collapse.
The biggest known creditor is Newcastle's Goodwin Street Development Pty Ltd, that is claiming $3.9 million in relation to a partially completed Jesmond student accommodation project.
Mr Banerjee said he was investigating a possible uncommercial transaction valued up to $4.2 million. Investigations will also look at a possible insolvent trading claim worth $4.6 million.
He said that the company's collapse was linked to a failure to maintain adequate books and records, poor strategic management and not lodging tax returns.
A spokesman for Goodwin Street Developments said on Thursday that funding had been provided to the liquidator to keep investigating DSD Builders.
He said the partially completed student accommodation project was still unfinished. "We want to finish the project but we are in a holding pattern at the moment," he said.
Ruling on a dispute between another Newcastle developer, Greenwood Futures, and DSD Builders in late 2018, the Supreme Court's Justice Robert McDougall described Mr Roberts and Mr Shankar as "principals" of the construction company and launched a scathing attack on the pair.
"There is, in my view, very strong evidence that Mr Roberts and Mr Shankar have engaged in structuring their affairs in such a way so as to avoid, wherever possible, paying their liabilities," Justice McDougall said.
The Newcastle Herald reported in November 2019 that Mr Roberts and Mr Shankar were linked to numerous building companies accused of leaving a host of defective or incomplete work and unpaid bills causing nightmares for homeowners and businesses.
Dozens of people - including homeowners, tradies, developers and suppliers - detailed being caught in a never-ending series of battles that have swirled around the pair, with some disputes dragging out for years.
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