Darwin bottled water company which blew taxpayer investment had imported ‘contaminated’ Indonesian water, court docu­ments ­reveal

THE collapsed bottled water company that once spr­uiked the ‘incredible health benefits’ of its products before blowing $10 million in public money got its start importing ‘contaminated’ Indonesian water, court docu­ments ­reveal

Former NT Beverages chief executive Hugh Jones. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford.

THE collapsed bottled water company that once spr­uiked the “incredible health benefits” of its products before blowing $10 million in public money got its start importing “contaminated” Indonesian water, court docu­ments ­reveal.

NT Beverages Group Pty Ltd went into administration in December 2018, nine months after its first cash ­injection from the taxpayer-backed Infrastructure Devel­op­ment Fund, which the NT Government has since scrapped as ineffective.

Court records show that within the first year of its ­operation, as it was spruiking its new Akuna Springs brand as “home grown”, the company was caught trying to sell contaminated, imported Indonesian water which may have failed Australian Food Standards.

NT Beverages’ Akuna Blue bottled water

The water, sold under the “W Water” brand, was ­repeatedly rejected by wholesalers and NT Beverages took unsuccessful legal action in both the New South Wales District Court and the Federal Court against the Indonesian bottler.

A 2017 Federal Court decision shows a representative of wholesaler Metcash called then NT Beverages chief executive Hugh Jones in late December 2015 and said: “Hugh, this is the last straw, the latest five-litre pallet is also contaminated.

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“I cannot allow for this situation to continue, Metcash will not be making any future sales orders.”

Metcash complained the water had orange-brown fluid and white floating particles in it.

Soon after the NT Beverages claim failed and the company was ordered to pay the Indonesian bottler’s legal fees, Mr Jones went cap-in-hand to existing shareholders saying the company was having “significant cash flow difficulties”.

Former NT Beverages chief executive Hugh Jones

Mr Jones has since left the company and could not be contacted for comment.

The Infrastructure Development Fund signed off on its first $9.2 million investment in the fund seven months later.

Details of the company’s early dealings will raise fresh questions of the due diligence done by the Infrastructure Development Fund board before it committed a total of $10.5 million in taxpayer money to bankroll the company.

Opposition Leader Gary Higgins has repeatedly criticised the Gunner Government “dodging questions” and “refusing to give a straight answer” over the fund’s decision to invest in the company.