The Big Read: Kiwi connection to big Aussie case

NZ Herald

13 Aug, 2015 08:13 PM9 mins to read

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 13: Shane Warne (L) and Elizabeth Hurley arrive at Crown's IMG Tennis Player's Party at Crown Towers on January 13, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denh

An Australian car company boss facing a high-profile legal claim now appears to be setting up in New Zealand, reports Hamish Fletcher.

A Melbourne businessman at the centre of the Australian car industry's biggest controversy still appears to have plans for this side of the Tasman.

Clyde Campbell, former boss of Fiat Chrysler Australia, is accused of misusing tens of millions of dollars of the company's money and entering into a string of uncommercial deals.

A Fiat Chrysler lawsuit claims the 47-year-old authorised excessive hospitality, entertainment and vehicle expenses for himself and others.

Campbell allegedly approved the purchase of cars for "celebrity ambassadors" Shane Warne and Elizabeth Hurley to use in Britain, even though the Australian wing of the vehicle manufacturer had no commercial presence in that country.

Fiat Chrysler also alleges it paid for trips to New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, and most of a New Zealand "golf and spa holiday" that Campbell took associates on.

The company is claiming its former managing director breached his employment contract and failed to discharge his duties to the firm. It wants him to pay an unspecified amount in damages and compensation.

Campbell denies the allegations and is defending the case. He maintains that the deals he made were in the company's best interests and helped boost its sales (see below).

Kiwi automotive mogul Neville Crichton, a former associate of Campbell.

While the case is continuing in the Australian Federal Court at Melbourne, it doesn't seem to have dampened Campbell's appetite for business - this time in New Zealand.

A month after the allegations surfaced in May, an Australian judge ordered that one of Campbell's companies may transfer its registration to New Zealand and invest up to $1.5 million in a "proposed distributorship and retail business venture" in this country.

While the move requires Fiat Chrysler's approval, the company has agreed not to "unreasonably withhold" it.

Industry insiders on both sides of the Tasman are stumped on just what this business might be.

And Campbell, who owns an apartment in Auckland's Viaduct and is believed to have obtained New Zealand residency late last year, declined to answer questions sent via his lawyer.

If it does go ahead, the business would be his second foray into this market.

The first was Fiat Chrysler New Zealand, a company that Campbell formed in 2013 with Kiwi automotive mogul Neville Crichton.

The joint venture, which distributes Jeep, Chrysler, Fiat and Alfa Romeo vehicles, posted revenue of $119 million in the 12 months to June 2014 and a profit of $2.76 million for the period.

In January, the company boasted record sales of the brands under its umbrella, up 51 per cent over the previous year.

But Campbell's involvement in the venture came to an abrupt end just months later, when the allegations against him emerged and Crichton took complete control of the New Zealand company.

One motoring industry commentator, who wished to remain anonymous, believed Crichton would be "deeply embarrassed" by the situation.

The Sydney-based multi-millionaire, who has been in the motoring industry for decades, was brief when asked about his former business partner.

"I've got nothing to do with him ... I'm not involved and I don't want to be involved," the 70-year-old said this week.

However, he confirmed there was no suggestion that what is alleged to have gone on in Australia had anything to do with the business on this side of the Ditch.

One source said Fiat Chrysler New Zealand would want to distance itself as much as it could from Campbell, whose legal problems have generated frequent headlines in the Australian media.

That coverage has revealed that Campbell was once bankrupted, having being declared personally insolvent in June 1988, when he was barely out of his teens.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 13: Shane Warne (L) and Elizabeth Hurley arrive at Crown's IMG Tennis Player's Party at Crown Towers on January 13, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denh

None of the publicity will have any bearing on Fiat Chrysler's lawsuit, which details a series of transactions in which the company claims Campbell allegedly acted improperly.

For instance, in 2012 - about halfway through his three-year tenure as chief executive - the Fiat Chrysler boss agreed to changes to a contract with a British firm called Motortrak, which provided Fiat Chrysler with web services.

Among other things, the change more than doubled the amount Fiat Chrysler paid per dealer to Motortrak each month.

The company alleges the varied contract was uncommercial and claims Campbell appears to have an interest in Motortrak and personally benefited from the deal.

It says that, at Campbell's request, Motortrak arranged for a Chrysler vehicle to be provided to Shane Warne in Britain, and alleges it was invoiced for the cost of purchasing cars for the ex-cricketer, his one-time fiancee, actress Elizabeth Hurley, and for Australian soccer player Harry Kewell to use in that country.

"The invoices for the vehicles supplied to these individuals did not accurately describe the transaction but purported to be invoices issued by Motortrak in the course of its usual business," Fiat Chrysler alleges.

Campbell (pictured in his Jeep) is alleged to have signed a $5.6m deal for Fiat Chrysler to have exclusive use of a luxury Australian resort. Photo / Valeriu Campan

The company claims Campbell had maintained a personal relationship with Motortrak's director and arranged for him to attend a 2013 dealer event in New Orleans at Fiat Chrysler's expense.

The lawsuit also alleges Campbell signed a three-year contract for the company to have exclusive use of the Villa Gusto Epicurean Retreat, at a total cost of A$5 million ($5.6 million).

According to Fiat Chrysler, the Melbourne businessman and his wife have interests in a property near the luxury lodge.

The motoring firm says it has also provided the property's owners with a fully maintained Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland and replaced it three times.

It says the cost of the contract outweighs the benefit and that there is no commercial justification for the company entering into the deal.

The court action alleges Campbell arranged for the lodge's owners to accompany him on a three-day golf and spa holiday in New Zealand, which the company "mostly paid for".

The holiday to this country, in September last year, was well after Campbell stepped down as managing director.

He was followed as boss of Fiat Chrysler Australia by Veronica Johns, the first woman to head an Australian car company. Johns resigned her position at the end of last year, citing "personal reasons".

Aussie footballer Harry Kewell. Photo / Getty Images

In another part of the claim, Fiat Chrysler alleges it paid A$1.2 million towards the purchase of Melbourne dealerships associated with one of Campbell's former bosses at Mercedes-Benz Australia.

The company also says it provided "marketing assistance" to these dealerships worth A$2.5 million - far more than the amount of support usually given.

Elsewhere in the suit, Fiat Chrysler says it suspects that Campbell used funds supposedly for a "mobile outdoor floating billboard" towards buying a A$400,000 12m boat.

The company paid more than A$500,000 in invoices for this "floating billboard" which allegedly came, albeit indirectly, from a company co-directed by Campbell's wife.

As well as allegations concerning uncommercial contracts, Campbell is accused of using almost A$250,000 of company money to buy memberships at the Victoria Racing Club.

Campbell's former employer also claims he incurred "excessive travel expenses without business justification" when he was its chief executive.

Fiat Chrysler paid Campbell A$537,849 for travel expenses while he worked there and alleges he sought to hide the true level of his jet-setting by getting other employees to claim his spending as their own.

Results wanted at any cost

Campbell claims he was asked to boost sales for Fiat Chrysler using any means necessary. Photo / Getty Images

When Clyde Campbell was offered the top job at Fiat Chrysler Australia, he claims senior executives said they wanted him to boost car sales - and didn't care how he did it.

About a week after he started in October 2010, one of these executives allegedly told him to prepare a new business plan that wouldn't be bound by the rules of the "old Chrysler".

Campbell was apparently told by another executive to boost dealership numbers any way he could.

"Get 100 dealerships by June next year or you're out of a job. I don't care how you do it, I don't care how much it costs, just get it done," is what he was told, Campbell says in the defence filed to his former employer's lawsuit.

As well as denying he breached his duties or employment contract when authorising deals on behalf of the company, Campbell says he had approval from his superiors for many of them.

He says increases in the company's sales and profits would not have been possible but for the changes he authorised for one contract, which Fiat Chrysler now alleges were uncommercial.

According to Campbell, Fiat Chrysler made a 2014 profit - after tax and transfer pricing - of A$30 million, up from A$19.6 million the year before and A$17.7 million in the period before that.

Although Campbell admits personally knowing the director on the other side of the contract, he says he did not have a "material personal interest" in the agreement.

In response to allegations about signing Fiat Chrysler up to an exclusive contract with the Villa Gusto Epicurean Retreat in the mountains of Victoria, Campbell says the deal was done to satisfy the company's global headquarters' desire for a "customer brand experience centre".

"The annual cost under the Villa Gusto contract is A$785 (including GST) per double or twin room per night which is not unreasonable for the quality of the food and accommodation provided," says Campbell's statement of defence.

The former managing director says he had several discussions with Fiat Chrysler's global executives about the proposal for the Villa Gusto contract and believed it was in the best interests of the business.

In denying accusations that his travel expenses were excessive, Campbell says he was entitled to fly business class.

Since 2011, Campbell says he was required to fly to Shanghai every month, Sydney every second month, North America two or three times a year and Europe and New Zealand once or twice a year.

Campbell's statement of defence also denies Fiat Chrysler's claim that he he allowed cars to be bought for "celebrity ambassadors" in Britain, as alleged by Fiat Chrysler.