By Louisa Cleave
The Sweetwaters financial collapse may be investigated by police and the Serious Fraud Office.
The liquidator of the failed festival, Stuart Robertson, said he had been in touch with the police fraud squad and might meet investigators today.
The Serious Fraud Office would not comment but is understood to have had preliminary discussions about the festival which left a trail of unpaid artists and supporting services.
"There seems to be that there may be some wrongdoing and until I can clarify that I don't think it would help the creditors' position by discussing it," said Mr Robertson.
He said he was still trying to secure assets, including ticket revenue taken at the gate by security staff, and items of equipment, and could not put a figure on the amount owed to creditors.
"My priority has to be securing assets and now to investigate issues such as income and expenditure."
One of the biggest creditors, a corporate travel agency owed $250,000, believed there was little hope of recovering the loss.
"I have spoken to Stuart Robertson. He's got no money to play with. He doesn't know where the money is. There are rumours going around of all sorts of stuff going on. The money is somewhere," said the agency's managing director, who did not want his identity or the name of his company published.
The managing director said the festival debt estimate of $750,000 was unlikely to be correct, considering his loss and the $200,000 Daniel Keighley told him Elvis Costello was being paid added up to almost half a million alone.
Plumber Craig Nicholas is close to nervous exhaustion after having worked four 24-hour shifts last week to finish the Sweetwaters site in time for the festival.
He is facing bankruptcy in his first year of business with a $28,000 unpaid bill for his three months' work for Sweetwaters.
His troubles have been compounded by the health of his two-year-old son Jamie, badly burned by a candle in a caravan fire at the Puhinui Reserve site just after Christmas.
"Daniel has been a friend of mine for a couple of years and I'm hacked off. He told me three months ago 25,000 tickets had been sold."
Manukau City Council has also become a creditor with cheques totalling $120,000 for a bond on the reserve and the cost of fencing bouncing. A report on Sweetwaters will be presented at an emergency meeting of council today.
Youth at risk charity Project K Trust was to benefit from a charity dinner and performance by Sweetwaters artists held at the Sheraton last Friday night.
However, trust chief executive Graeme Dingle said he was unsure where proceeds from the evening had been held.
Police to talk with liquidator
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