Trust payments spark court bid

Rod Petricevic is accused of making a series of payments into a family trust in the two years before he was declared bankrupt. File photo / Kenny Rodger

Money allegedly salted away by Bridgecorp boss Rod Petricevic is at the centre of High Court proceedings.

The case was deferred yesterday but is due to return to court soon.

The Official Assignee has a series of actions against the Auckland businessman over money paid to Petricevic's family trust. Bridgecorp went into receivership in July 2007, owing 14,500 investors about $460 million.

Guy Caro, a solicitor with the Companies Office who is acting for the Official Assignee, said the matters had been deferred temporarily and although it was on yesterday's preliminarily court list, it did not go ahead.

Petricevic was declared bankrupt last year but Caro said a series of payments were alleged to have been made by him to the RM Petricevic Family Trust. The timing and recording of these payments is at the centre of the litigation. Petricevic is being represented by barrister Bruce Stewart QC.

The Official Assignee's case is that the payments were made in the two years prior to the bankruptcy and were therefore illegal.

The Official Assignee says Petricevic made the payments when he was insolvent and the money gave the trust a preference over other creditors. "The assignee seeks recovery of those payments," Caro said.

Petricevic is also alleged to have made payments to the trust which were not recorded as reducing his advance account with the trust.

"The assignee says those payments were for inadequate or no consideration and were made when the bankrupt was insolvent. The assignee likewise seeks recovery of those payments," Caro said.

Documents will now be filed by various parties and the case will go to court this year.

"The court has ordered that a half-day hearing will be convened to determine a preliminary issue," Caro said. "That issue concerns the transitional provisions to the Insolvency Act 2006. While the bankruptcy is administered under that act the transactions at issue in these matters all took place prior to that act coming into force.

"Therefore the preliminary issue to be determined involves whether the provisions of the Insolvency Act 1967 apply to these matters or whether the provisions of the Insolvency Act 2006 apply.

"The hearing date for that preliminary issue is yet to be allocated but will likely be within the next few months."