Cloverdale Facilities Management into liquidatation owing $1.5m to creditors

An embattled Bell Park based cleaning company which owes $1.3m to the ATO may have been trading illegally since its inception.

Cloverdale Facilities Management is the financial arm of cleaning company Cloverdale Cleaning Group Services. Picture: Milos Dimic

A Geelong cleaning company that is being wound up over unpaid tax bills worth more than $1.5m may have been trading while insolvent since launching six years ago, a new report reveals.

PwC’s Robert Ditrich compiled the report as part of his role as Cloverdale Facilities Management liquidator, filing it with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on March 7.

Cloverdale Facilities Management (CFM) was registered in 2019 and has Polish-born Ewelina Robinson as its sole director, according to ASIC documents.

Ms Robinson was contacted for comment.

It is owned entirely by Cloverdale Cleaning Group Services, which in turn is owned by the company’s chief executive Waldemar Kwiatkowski.

CFM was hauled before the Federal Court in October 2024 after the Deputy Commissioner for Taxation (DCT) applied to wind up the company.

Mr Ditrich’s report details CFM’s debts, including more than $1.3m to the Australian Taxation Office, $172,650 to Victoria’s State Revenue Office, plus several smaller amounts to other state revenue offices and workers’ compensation schemes.

Mr Ditrich also reported that CFM “may have been insolvent since its incorporation”.

“My investigations are continuing to determine the specific date the company became insolvent, and any potential claim against the director,” he wrote.

Company directors face up to five years imprisonment or a maximum fine of $1.65m if found to be trading while insolvent, according to ASIC’s website.

Cloverdale Facilities Management is the financial arm of cleaning company Cloverdale Cleaning Group Services. Picture: Milos Dimic

Court documents outlined the grounds for insolvency as Cloverdale’s failure to “pay the amount of the debt demanded” to the DCT within three weeks of it being served.

According to Mr Ditrich’s report, CFM “formerly acted as the payroll entity for a group of associated entities specialising in building cleaning and maintenance services”.

Job applications for cleaner, housekeeping, handyman, and supervisor roles in the Geelong, Bellarine, and Surf Coast regions are still live on Cloverdale’s overarching website.

The business has operated for more than 25 years and has up to 500 employees.

It claims to service “over one million square metres of commercial property daily” and operates in all major cities and states in Australia.

According to Cloverdale’s website, they have a strong client base and reputation servicing sensitive government buildings with high security clearance thresholds.

“Cloverdale Group has significant and long term experience in managing large multi-site government cleaning contracts and have developed experience over a long and sustained period that makes us a reliable business partner on complex servicing arrangements,” it states.

Mr Ditrich, who was appointed liquidator on December 11, declined to comment.

An ATO spokesman said he could not comment due to confidentiality obligations.

Originally published as Cloverdale Facilities Management into liquidatation owing $1.5m to creditors