Clode meets his Waterloo

Property developer Brent Clode. Photo / Michael Craig

Olympian turned bankrupt property developer Brent Clode last night rejected claims he was making a mockery of the company winding-up process by appointing family and friends as liquidators.

In what one barrister described as "a slightly crazy situation", the former top sprint canoeist appointed two family members, one a sports masseuse, and a friend, as liquidators to his company Waterloo Buildings Ltd.

First Clode's brother-in-law Michael Cooper was appointed. Nothing unusual in that, Clode told the Herald on Sunday. Cooper had helped liquidate almost 40 other companies.

Then when Cooper himself was about to be made bankrupt, Clode appointed his brother Peter, a sports masseuse and triathlete living in San Diego.

Then it was the turn of Melissa Watson, a friend on Clode's Facebook page.

Barrister David Chisholm, acting for Fisher International Trustee, which is trying to get Watson removed as liquidator, said he had never come across a case quite so "bizarre".

"It's just making a mockery of the liquidation process," he said. Watson was not qualified to be a liquidator and had no previous experience.

Those in the industry were concerned the criteria of becoming a liquidator was too loose.

But last night Clode hit back, saying Fisher International was desperate to be rid of the liquidator because of a counter claim against it.

Clode said the liquidator, on behalf of Waterloo Building Ltd, was suing Fisher and another finance company over its actions.

He alleges those actions caused a firesale of a building in Auckland's Waterloo Quadrant, the company's only asset, at more $5 million below its value.

Fisher and the other finance company were being sued for the difference plus costs.

In the meantime, Fisher International is after $1.22m in penalty interest it claims is owed by Waterloo Building Ltd, but Clode claims the "massive" interest rates were oppressive and unfair.

After a hearing over Watson's position as liquidator in the High Court at Auckland this week, Justice Douglas White reserved his decision after documents were filed by Watson 15 minutes before the hearing.

Clode, 46, and a member of the New Zealand K4 1000m kayaking team that competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, is looking for a job and said he would stay in property.

He considered he had been an "exceptional" property developer and was proud of his work, including the Statesman apartment building in Auckland's Parliament St.

But it was that building that knocked Clode's developer career more than anything when, in 2002, he and his companies were fined $89,000 after pleading guilty to health, safety and building code violations. A wall on the site collapsed, killing one worker and seriously injuring another.

"That sent shockwaves through our business. Our debt to one finance company alone was $80m and there was a rumour that I was going to jail."

It had taken him five years to sort through the fallout, Clode said, but there were "very few" people to whom he still owed money.