David (Dave) Ian Henderson, twice-bankrupt high-profile Christchurch property developer, and his business associate Ian Bruce Hyndman, appear to have been behind a Notice in the National Business Review (NBR) and one in the NZ Herald (22/05/13) that ran last year, apparently seeking “information” on chartered accountant Robert Bruce Walker, liquidator of Property Ventures Ltd (in receivership and liquidation), the parent company of interconnected companies owned or controlled by Henderson. Henderson was behind the failed $2 billion Five Mile town development at State Highway 6, Queenstown, near the Queenstown Events Centre, colloquially known as “Hendo’s Hole.

As sailors know, it is important at sea to avoid peeing to windward. The blow back can be very unpleasant. So can the result of trying to gather ‘dirt’ and throw it at a person and make it stick, when a very strong gale is opposing the thrower.

Dave Henderson who was bankrupted in 1996 and discharged in 1999, was then bankrupted again on November 29, 2010, the latter one of the largest bankruptcies in New Zealand’s history. By his own account he had gross personal debts of about $165m and $86m after the sale of secured assets. The debts come mainly from personal guarantees he had given on loans to his companies.

Bankruptcies are managed by a Crown authority called the Official Assignee (OA) and normally last for three years. Henderson remains an undischarged bankrupt because the OA filed a notice of objection to Mr Henderson’s discharge, pursuant to s 292 of the Insolvency Act 2006, on 28 November 2013. The OA “strongly suspects that Mr Henderson had entered into, carried on, or taken part in the management or control of businesses during his bankruptcy, contrary to s 149 of the Act. Mr Henderson strongly refutes the Assignee’s suspicions…” (quoted from High Court judgment dated 18 March 2014 – CIV-2010-409-000559 [2014] NZHC 499). [Read more…]