Victorian COVID-19 hotel quarantine guard company Unified Security’s ownership chaos revealed

As Sydney identity Dave Millward was successfully dispelling accusations Unified Security caused Melbourne’s second COVID wave, a staffer upended the company’s structure.

While senior management at controversial security company Unified were busy defending ultimately unproven claims that its guards had let COVID-19 escape from Victoria’s quarantine hotels, a junior employee mistakenly changed the Sydney-based firm’s entire ownership structure.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal founder David Millward has written to the corporate regulator to reverse what the staff member did to Unified’s 51 per cent shareholder, Millward Investments Pty Ltd, which included replacing the director.

In his letter to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Mr Millward said changes that Millward Investments submitted to ASIC mid last year — which made him its director and sole owner — in reality had never occurred.

Unified’s Dave Millward. Picture: Daily Telegraph

Sandra Millward Pratt was in fact Millward Investments’ director and shareholder, he said.

Ms Millward Pratt took on these responsibilities in May last year, records show.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she had joined Unified a month earlier to provide “executive support”.

Mr Millward and Ms Millward Pratt are thought to be related but not married. Unified would not say.

A document withdrawal form they jointly submitted last month said “the error occurred due to insufficient supervision of junior staff during COVID-19 impacted working arrangements and miscommunication resulting from the incorporation of Millward Holdings Pty Ltd, a related entity”.

Sandra Millward Pratt. Picture: Facebook

Millward Holdings’ director is Mr Millward but it is owned by Millward Investments.

Millward Investments owns 51 per cent of USG Holdings, which in turn owns all of Unified Security Group (Australia). The other 49 per cent of USG is owned by Luigi Trunzo’s Trunzo Investments.

While the changes to Millward Investments have been explained, confusion abounds over another company connected to Mr Millward, Mr Trunzo and Ms Millward Pratt, called Mill Trun Pty Ltd.

On October 12 last year, Mr Trunzo, as a director of the company, filed a form with ASIC saying Mr Millward had ceased to be a Mill Trun director on September 22.

On October 15, Ms Millward Pratt filed a form saying she was now a Mill Trun director and that Mr Trunzo was not a director as of that date.
The form also said she was its 100 per cent shareholder and that Mr Trunzo and Mr Millward were no longer 50 per cent shareholders.

Luigi Trunzo in 2000, promoting a vehicle built to withstand machine gun fire. Picture: Daily Telegraph

Then on October 27, Mr Trunzo filed a form saying he had become a director on October 15 and that Ms Millward Pratt had ceased to be a director on that date.

The form also said Mr Millward had become a director on September 22.

Ms Millward Pratt was no longer the 100 per cent shareholder, the form said.

Mr Trunzo said he and Mr Millward each held 50 per cent.

The Telegraph sent detailed questions to Unified about the changes. A spokesman replied: “Thanks for the opportunity to respond to these questions but on this occasion Unified Security politely declines.”

Unified was the single-largest provider of security services in Victoria’s hotel quarantine scheme under a contract worth tens of millions of dollars.

Unified has said the recently concluded inquiry into the scheme showed COVID escaped “because of the confused and ineffective government departmental structure that in turn led to inadequate infection control protocols in the hotels”.

Unified has said the Victorian government had blamed security companies rather than accept responsibility for these failures.

More than 800 people died in Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19.

There have been 909 coronavirus deaths Australia-wide since the pandemic began.