Four companies related to Bella Vista Homes put into liquidation

Former Bella Vista boss Danny Cancian is the sole director and shareholder of all four of the companies put into liquidation this week. Photo / File

Four companies related to Bella Vista Homes have been put into liquidation by Inland Revenue this week.

Project Management Limited, Live Wire Limited, Lakes Engineering Limited and Ground Effects Limited were appointed a liquidator in the Hamilton High Court on Monday.

Former Bella Vista boss Danny Cancian is the sole director and shareholder of all four of those companies, according to the New Zealand Companies Office website.

Cancian said in March that he had set up other companies so they could work for Bella Vista Homes, "so I could control the process of what happened on the jobs rather than outside contractors".

Rhys Cain, a Christchurch-based insolvency practitioner with the company EY, was appointed as the liquidator on Monday, along with his colleague Rees Logan.

Cain and Logan are also currently liquidating Bella Vista Homes.

The failed housing development at The Lakes in Tauranga went into voluntary liquidation around this time last year, leaving behind unfinished houses and millions of dollars in outstanding debts to creditors.

When the Bay of Plenty Times contacted Cain this week, he confirmed that the four companies were "related entities" to Bella Vista Homes.

"And we are aware of inter-company transactions but we have yet to discuss them with Mr Cancian so we don't have any further comment at this time."

Cain said he and Logan did not have creditor details yet but were sending notices to a number of other parties to provide records and documents.

"We only very recently got notification from the court of our appointment."

All four companies put into liquidation this week had the same Hamilton address registered with the companies office.

It is a flat on Mill Lane in the suburb of Whitiora – the local office of Matley chartered accountants, which was also the accountant for Bella Vista Homes.

Principal and owner of Matley, David Waine, confirmed to the Bay of Plenty Times that it was Inland Revenue, as a creditor, which put the companies into liquidation.

Waine also confirmed that the four companies were associated parties to Bella Vista Homes and said "effectively they have been undertaking no real trading activity since the Bella Vista collapse".

Inland Revenue, when contacted about the liquidations, said it could not comment on individual taxpayer's matters.

The failed Bella Vista Homes housing development at The Lakes in Tauranga. Photo / File

The Bay of Plenty Times first revealed in March that Bella Vista Homes had made a series of transactions of "a significant value" to other companies connected to Cancian in the months before it went into liquidation.

The transactions had the effect of reducing the amounts owed by the related companies at a time Bella Vista was insolvent, the latest liquidators' report said.

Cancian said in March that money that was owed to him by Bella Vista was simply paid instead to other companies that he was connected to or owned to keep them afloat, and that those paper transactions were all done by his accountants at Matley.

Waine said at the time that what they did was standard accounting practice, but that there were different rules for liquidations.

"We offset amounts owed to and from companies to form a net position. Doing so meant that associated companies to Danny benefited over other creditors.

"The liquidator is looking at which transactions need to be reversed to get a clearer picture of what is owed by Danny's other companies."

Waine confirmed this week that the four companies now put into liquidation were involved in the related company transactions.

The Bay of Plenty Times has attempted to contact Cancian for comment.

Meanwhile, the liquidators are still looking to recover money from Bella Vista's two former directors and law firm, and the series of related company transactions.

The latest liquidators' report showed that Bella Vista Homes had just $28 with which to pay more than $4m to creditors.

Bella Vista Homes Limited, Cancian and others are currently before the court facing charges laid by the Tauranga City Council over the failed development.

The charges relate to alleged non-compliance with the Building Act, including carrying out building works without consents.

The next hearing is on February 1 next year at the Tauranga District Court.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's (MBIE) review into Tauranga City Council's building control activities is still continuing.

Paul Hobbs, the ministry's acting manager of building system assurance, said this week that the ministry would release the findings and outcomes of the review in a report once the investigation was complete and all evidence and information had been considered.