ASIC has disqualified Claudio Criniti of Greenacre, NSW, from managing corporations for the maximum period of five years following his involvement in the failure of seven companies.
Between April 2023 and September 2024, Mr Criniti was the director of:
- Lamio Masonry Contractors Pty Ltd (Lamio)
- Reliance Food Pty Ltd (Reliance)
- Flavorfood Pty Ltd
- Foodtreat Pty Ltd
- Transcendgroup Pty Ltd
- Zenith Air (NSW) Pty Ltd, and
- The Exhibition Centre Pty Ltd.
At the time of ASIC's decision, the seven companies owed over $8 million to creditors, including approximately $2.6m to the ATO, $466,288 to Revenue NSW and $434,151 to the Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer, as well as $4,837,932 to trade creditors which included $298,476 to employees for wages, superannuation and leave entitlements.
ASIC found that Mr Criniti acted improperly and failed to meet his obligations as director when he:
- failed to exercise due care and diligence to ensure that Lamio and Reliance met their obligations to lodge income tax returns and business activity statements
- failed to ensure that Lamio and Reliance did not trade while insolvent
- failed to exercise due care and diligence to ensure Reliance kept adequate books and records
- failed to lodge a Report on Company Activities and Property with the Liquidator of Lamio within 10 days of the winding up, and
- failed to provide reasonable assistance to the liquidator of Lamio by delivering all the books as soon as practicable after the winding up.
In disqualifying Mr Criniti, ASIC relied on supplementary reports lodged by the liquidator of Lamio, Daniel Juratowitch of Cor Cordis, and the liquidator of Reliance, Shumit Banerjee of Westburn Advisory. ASIC assisted Cor Cordis and Westburn Advisory to prepare their reports by providing funding from the Assetless Administration Fund.
Mr Criniti is disqualified from managing corporations until 25 February 2031.
Mr Criniti has the right to seek a review of ASIC's decision by the Administrative Review Tribunal.
Background
Section 206F of the Corporations Act allows ASIC to disqualify a person from managing corporations for a maximum period of five years if, within a seven year period, the person was an officer of two or more companies, and those companies were wound up and a liquidator provides a report to ASIC about each of the company's inability to pay its debts.
ASIC maintains a banned and disqualified persons register that provides information about people who have been disqualified from:
- involvement in the management of a corporation
- auditing self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), or
- practicing in the financial services or credit industry.
