Section 385 of the Companies Act 1993 empowers the Ministry of Economic Development to ban company directors for up to five years who have a history of unsuccessful ventures. David Bruce Crow of Inglewood is sole director of Buildwise Ltd (In Liq) and also directs 435 Devon Ltd which faces imminent strike off from the Companies Office Register because of his failure to file the company’s annual return that was due on 30 April 2010. Here is yet another unsuccessful business venture involving one of the Crow brothers that appears soon to be hitting the proverbial fan and splattering its detritus and entrails around the legal and business community in New Plymouth. (Both David and Steve Crow were directors of 435 Devon Ltd when in purchased the New Plymouth RSA Devon Street property for $1.9M).

Unpaid creditors such as the  New Plymouth and District’s Returned and Services Association Inc. owed over $50,000 in unpaid interest on a $1.525 Million second mortgage and PMIT Nominees Ltd owed about two months interest on a $375,000 first mortgage they provided, could both well be left high and dry surrounded by detritus and debt entrails.

Conceptual Drawings adorn the 435 Devon Ltd website – seeking to paste a veneer over the vast cracks that hold the masonary of hubris and bravado together. Even a three year old -out-of-date – logo of an Architecture firm is affixed to each “concept plan” and the claim is made that ” The Architects are currently working on conceptual drawings with a number of options being considered”. One wonders if they have ever been paid. This firm has had no involvement in the project for about three years.

Stephen (Steve) Peter Crow who owns 50% of the shares of 435 Devon Ltd has claimed on national TV that hundreds of thousands of dollars of his and his brother’s money has been spent on architecture plans for the 435 Devon Street property that the company purchased for $1.9 Million. The planned Crow complex was called “Te Ara” (translated “The Pathway”). A better translation might well be, according to one local Maori elder: “The path to liquidation or receivership and a director’s banning”.