SFO eyeing failed fashion firm

The company's website said the venue traded as a 'restaurant by day/early evening and adult entertainment by night'. Photo / Thinkstock

Liquidators complain of destroyed records in accounts of Catherine’s Fashionwear.

Liquidators probing the collapse of a clothing business have complained records were destroyed.

Catherine's Fashionwear, which imported sporting apparel and outfitted numerous sports teams including the Tasman Makos, collapsed into receivership in July 2013 following court action brought by Heartland Bank.

Reports by receivers James Greenway and Andrew Bethell of BDO said creditors were owed $2.3 million and a complaint had been laid with the Serious Fraud Office after discrepancies were found in the accounts.

"These practices resulted in the level of accounts receivable and stock being substantially overstated in the company's financial accounts," the reports said.

Liquidators Christopher McCullagh and Stephen Lawrence of PKF, appointed alongside BDO, said in a recent report that reconstructing the affairs of the company was proving difficult: "as the relevant accounting records have been destroyed, this is a complex task."

The company's owner and managing director, Catherine Casey, also ran non-trading clothing company Apparel House and children's "princess party" firm Club Girly Girlz which are also in receivership and liquidation.

Following the collapse of her firms Casey re-emerged as founding manager of Albany restaurant-cum-strip-club Sin City, which folded less than a month after its opening last year.

The company's website said the venue traded as a "restaurant by day/early evening and adult entertainment by night".

Liquidator Jurgen Herbke, appointed to Sin City operator CGG Pty, said trade creditors and CGG were owed nearly $200,000 but there were negligible assets.

Herbke said Casey and the owner of CGG were in dispute over who was to blame for the failure. "She blames the funder and owner, and he blames her - but because of holidays I haven't yet had time to get to the bottom of these claims," he said.

Casey said through a friend that she did not wish to respond to the liquidators' comments or discuss the ongoing SFO probe.

Catherine's Fashionwear accountant, John Gray, was convicted in 2010 for his role in the collapse of National Finance.

Gray had also worked at television waste recycler RCN E-Waste, which collapsed in July leaving half-finished a $4.4 million contract with the Ministry for the Environment. The firm is also being investigated by the SFO.

Gray could not be reached for comment and is understood to be overseas.