Collapsed builder PPS group’s $66m mystery payments as insolvent trading claim settled

The directors of a collapsed Queensland construction group have tipped in huge dollars to settle an insolvent trading claim as it’s revealed liquidators uncovered $66m in mystery payments.

The liquidators of a construction group, which collapsed owing more than $9.5m to subbies, lenders and suppliers, have found the companies made more than $66m in payments that had not been fully explained.

Meanwhile, its directors have avoided $4m of insolvent trading claims by tipping $400,000 into the liquidations, without admittihng any fault.

Burleigh Heads-based PPS Qld and PPS Commercial both went into liquidation last July, leaving subcontractors and suppliers millions of dollars out of pocket.

The companies had worked on projects from Byron Bay to Bundaberg, including the Hinze Dam Visitor Centre, Elements of Byron beach resort, townhouse developments at Hope Island and Ipswich as well as aged-care facilities, childcare centres, schools and medical centres.

PPS Qld is solely directed by Salam Bettridge, 48, while PPS Commercial is solely directed by wife Raquel Bettridge, 52.

Neither could be contacted for comment.

John Davis of Cadsteel, was among the subcontractors stung by the collapse of building company PPS. Picture: Nigel Hallett

In a report filed with the corporate regulator ASIC, liquidators Nick Keramos and Jon McLeod said they sent Mr and Ms Bettridge insolvent trading claim letters demanding payments totalling almost $3.9m late last year.

According to the report, the directors denied they had traded while insolvent, but offered a $400,000 settlement “from a third party” on behalf of both to avoid further costs.

The liquidators accepted the settlement after taking legal advice.

Their reports said they’d found more than $66m in credit card payments and other transactions by the PPS companies in the three years before the liquidation and had been unable to confirm the reasons for them, or if they were director-related.

The settlement for the insolvent trading claims also released the directors from those potential claims.

Mr Bettridge’s initial report to liquidators said PPS Qld had loaned $2.9 million to PPS Commercial and another $204,445 to a company named Timaza, which was the landlord for the construction business. Timaza also owed more than $225,000 to PPS Commercial.

Timaza is solely directed by Ms Bettridge and is the sole shareholder of both liquidated PPS companies.

Raquel and Salam Bettridge in a photo from 2004.

Mr Bettridge has been excluded from holding a Queensland builder licence until September 2027 due to the liquidation and because PPS Qld had accumulated 34 demerit points in three years under his directorship.

Mr Bettridge previously made headlines in 2022 when he was acquitted of lying on a form filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

He successfully pleaded not guilty to one count of making a false or misleading statement.

Originally published as Collapsed builder PPS group’s $66m mystery payments as insolvent trading claim settled