Gaage Developments into liquidation, owes $350,000 to creditors

A Geelong land development consultancy firm only had $6 in their bank account at the time a liquidator was appointed.

Amit Parmar, director of Gaage Developments.

A North Geelong land development and project management consultancy firm only had $6 in its bank account at the time a liquidator was appointed.

According to documents submitted by the company director, the company owed $69,000 in superannuation and $284,000 to unsecured creditors.

Phillip Newman of PCI Partners was appointed liquidator of the company by an order of the Federal Court of Australia on August 30 after an application by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation (DCT).

Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage were listed as unsecured creditors, but the majority of money — $246,338 — was owed to the DCT.

Gaage Development formerly operated from a rented premises at 33 Mackey Street, North Geelong.

The company was first registered in 2017 and lists Amit Parmar as its sole director.

In a recently released report, Mr Newman’s analysis of the company’s management accounting revealed it was paying wages until July, however trading activities appeared to have reduced in April.

“The director attributes the company’s failure to a significant decline in work during and after Covid,” Mr Newman said in his report.

“As a result, there was inadequate cash flow to cover the operational expenses of the business and ceased trading shortly prior to the liquidation.”

Mr Pawar said the company was still in the early processes of liquidation and was in the middle of negotiations.

“We are currently making some offers, so hopefully we should be able to resolve it,” Mr Pawar said.

“It depends on what sort of negotiation happens and where we end up, that’s where we will make the final calls.”

Mr Pawar said the business accumulated debt as a result of Covid because projects were placed on hold and running expenses continued.

“We somehow managed to pay off all the employees,” he said.

“There are some tax obligations we were not able to address, so we will negotiate with the tax office.”

According to the company’s books, it had a wage liability totalling $116,278 to one former employee, however, the employee confirmed they were not making a claim for outstanding wages.

Mr Newman said he was also seeking further information from the director as to the material inconsistency between the management account figures and his report on company activities.

Mr Pawar said: “We are negotiating and hopefully we will successfully sort this out.”

Originally published as Gaage Developments into liquidation, owes $350,000 to creditors