KEY POINTS:
Rumours of the demise of financier Blue Chip seem to have been greatly exaggerated.
The Inland Revenue Department yesterday placed a public notice in the Business Herald which said it was about to liquidate the company.
But Blue Chip responded on its website and the IRD backed down and apologised to the company's directors, saying it had made a big mistake.
The incident started when IRD issued a public announcement that it was about to go to court against Blue Chip NZ, a subsidiary of ASX-listed Blue Chip Financial Solutions, to liquidate the New Zealand entity.
The IRD notice said the High Court at Auckland would hear its application to liquidate Blue Chip on February 15. IRD said its initial notice to the financier had been made on October 12 last year.
Blue Chip hit back saying the IRD was wrong. In a statement the company said: "The application and notice are without merit, which has been acknowledged by the IRD.
"The IRD and Blue Chip NZ will apply to the High Court to have the application withdrawn and the matter closed."
The company posted on its website a copy of a letter from the IRD, written yesterday, confirming the error.
"With reference to discussions regarding the public advertising of the winding up of Blue Chip NZ, I confirm this notification was made as a result of an oversight on the part of the department," Steven Whittaker, area manager for IRD at the Takapuna office, wrote. "The notification for winding up is withdrawn and I unreservedly apologise for any inconvenience or damage to the company's reputation this may have caused."
Blue Chip in a statement explained the background to the incident.
"In the course of 2006, Blue Chip and IRD had a disagreement and subsequent discussions about taxes due. During the course of these discussions, the IRD commenced proceedings in October 2006 as standard practice.
"In December 2006 all issues relating to this matter were successfully resolved and agreed by the IRD.
"However, an error by IRD resulted in them failing to advise their solicitors and the application continued."
Whittaker yesterday refused to discuss the matter or say why IRD had taken the court action.
