Aussie Workforce Solutions: Investigation into claims of forged documents and lost money

A SYDNEY construction recruitment company is under investigation by NSW Fair Trading for allegedly faking its public liability insurance.

“Duped” of $22,000 ... Sydney bricklayer David Coleman. Picture: Craig Greenhill

A SYDNEY construction recruitment company is under investigation by NSW Fair Trading for allegedly faking its public liability insurance.

The consumer protection agency, which also polices the state’s building industry, confirmed to The Daily Telegraph late yesterday it is probing Aussie Workforce Solutions (AWS).

Public Defender had earlier been alerted about AWS by a reputable builder earlier this month. The builder was contacted by AWS and offered tradespeople. Like many in Sydney at the moment, the builder was in urgent need of skilled labour — a construction boom has created a shortage. He had not dealt with AWS before.

It now appears the public and product liability insurance currency certificate AWS provided was a forgery.

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Damons Insurance Brokers office manager Brian Arrow said the AWS certificate was not “original”. It was actually for another company that went into liquidation last year. AWS had never been a Damons client, Mr Arrow said, adding that he believed the certificate it had issued had been “altered”.

Meanwhile, bricklayer David Coleman — who responded to an AWS advertisement on the Gumtree website seeking tradesmen — is down $22,000 after the builder paid AWS for his work, but it failed to pay him.

Mr Coleman is far from alone. He went to AWS’s supposed office address but it was leased to a different company which told him he was the “15th subcontractor in six months to call out looking for” AWS.

“I have been naively duped out of a lot of money,” Mr Coleman said.

AWS has now collapsed and the liquidator is trying to work out where all the money has gone, because it appears to have no assets.

“Once we have obtained the records and finalised the investigation and/or identified potential offences, these will be reported to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission,” said liquidator Steve Naidenov of Veritas Advisory.

The director who called in Mr Naidenov said: “I mismanaged my company … I went through a midlife crisis.” He said he “knew nothing about” insurance documents being faked or where unpaid subcontractors money had gone.

A Fair Trading spokeswoman said “issues raised in connection with AWS are now the subject of ... (an) investigation”.