Renewal SA silent on credit agency that checked finances of builder Coombs Barei Constructions

RENEWAL SA has refused to reveal how much it paid a building company which owes $6.5 million.

Administrators have identified Bruno Marveggio (pictured) as a shadow director of Coombs Barei Constructionse which is in liquidation.

RENEWAL SA has refused to reveal how much it paid Coombs Barei Constructions before the company collapsed with debts of $6.5 million.

It’s general manager project delivery Mark Devine has also refused to say which credit agency cleared CBC as being financially capable of qualifying for a share of a major Housing Trust rebuild.

CBC was last week placed in liquidation, nine months after Renewal SA awarded a final contract for the construction of 15 trust homes.

Administrators DuncanPowell have previously reported that CBC was likely trading insolvent from the last quarter of 2016 and had started entering payment agreements with creditors in February.

The administrators said that Renewal SA made two payments to Coombs Barei on October 24 and 25 totalling $144,000 but none of the money was passed onto subcontractors.

The company was placed in voluntary administration October 30.

Mr Devine would not tell The Advertiser how much extra, if any it had paid CBC under the Housing Trust contracts.

He repeated previous comments to the paper that CBC underwent a “pre-qualification process” to bid for the contracts, which included a financial assessment through a “recognised credit agency”.

But he did not answer which company did the assessment and when it was done.

“Renewal SA is currently providing information to assist a number of inquiries underway into Coombs Barei,” he said.

The Advertiser has previously reported that administrators DuncanPowell and Small Business Commissioner John Chapman have separately referred the conduct CBC directors Tony Basile and George Charalabidis to ASIC for investigation.

DuncanPowell in a report to creditors last month also identified that Bruno Marveggio, who is a co-shareholder with Mr Basile and Mr Charalabidis in the Adelaide United A-League soccer club, had acted as a shadow director of Coombs Barei.