The Court of Appeal has backed a ruling allowing Christchurch property developer David Henderson to bat off a statutory demand for $80,000.

The Henderson win is another chapter in the long and bitter saga between Wellington liquidator Robert Walker, who is the liquidator of Henderson’s failed property empire, and Henderson, who is a bankrupt.

The Court of Appeal, in a judgement on June 17, upheld a decision by associate Judge Rob Osborne setting aside a statutory demand on RFD Finance Ltd (RFD), lodged by Walker as liquidator of Sol Management Ltd (Sol).

Walker served the the demand on RFD, part of another group of Henderson companies, on August 7, 2013, requiring repayment of $80,000.

The money was part of $150,000 paid to Henderson’s company, Tomanovich Holdings Ltd (THL), by the Queenstown Lakes District Council. Henderson directed about $135,000 of the money to Sol’s Westpac account. About $26,000 was applied to Sol’s overdraft and, on the same day, he ordered the transfer of $80,000 to the trust account of Cousins & Associates, for the credit of RFD.

The $80,000 was then transferred between other Henderson companies. No records were kept of the terms on which THL diverted part of its $150,000 payment to Sol and of the nature of the transaction between Sol and RFD apart from a trust account note.

In the High Court, Judge Osborne said the documentation [provided by Henderson] was completely inadequate. [Read more…]