Banned director Muhammad Latif was allowed to run an NDIS company claiming $50m of taxpayer funds a year

A director was allowed to run an NDIS company claiming $50m of taxpayer funds a year despite being flagged as personally unsuitable for the job years prior.

A now banned director who was allowed to run an NDIS company claiming $50m of taxpayer funds a year, was flagged as personally unsuitable by the disability watchdog back in 2021.

Muhammad Latif was banned last week from providing services to the NDIS, after it was alleged in court papers that his company made NDIS claims for prisoners and dead people.

He denies any fraudulent activity.

Despite his claims Mr Latif was personally banned, along with his company Horizon SolSolutions, parent company of Cocoon SDA Care.

Muhammad Latif was banned last week from providing services to the NDIS. Picture: Julian Andrews

Mr Latif called in the liquidators last week. The scale of Horizon’s debts are unknown. But according to its auditor, the company owes nearly $10 million to the Australian Taxation Office.

However, this masthead can reveal the watchdog had identified Mr Latif as not suitable to head a registered NDIS company in 2021 after he failed to declare he had been insolvent on an application form while applying to register another company with the NDIS, Connecting Abilities.

In a letter sent to Mr Latif at the time, Acting Registrar NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission Melissa Clements wrote that when asked if any of the key personnel had been insolvent the answer was ‘no’.

She wrote that the Commission had identified that Mr Latif was the sole director of 888 Property Development Pty Ltd which had been under external administration since November 2019.

Cocoon SDA executive director and Crescent Respite owner Pranay Kumar (left) and Cocoon's managing director and owner Muhammad Latif. Picture: Facebook

His other company Connecting Abilities, “miserably” failed its NDIS audit, according to an insider. The letter from the Commission points out that the company was found to be non-compliant in five major areas.

“I am of the view that in light of this information … that Connecting Abilities Australia Pty Ltd and you, Muhammad Latif, are not suitable to be involved in the provision of supports or services,” Ms Clements wrote.

Despite her concerns Mr Latif was later able to become the director of another company Cocoon SDA Care, responsible for some of Australia’s most severely disabled people.

In the case of 888 Property Development, Mr Latif was its sole director and the only creditor was the ATO, owed $89,000.

According to the liquidator’s report, 888 had been established in 2017 to buy and develop a property northwest of Melbourne.

A property was bought for $886,000 with a loan from a company called One Hour Home Doctor (OHHD), of which Mr Latif was again the sole director.

The development did not go ahead due to a habitat threat. A short time after the site was sold for $1.15 million.

The agent on the property sale was OHHD and it received $300,000. The liquidator said this was “unusually high”. After other minor costs, the net proceeds were $846,000, of which $250,000 was paid to another company whose sole director was Mr Latif, called SA Progressive. The liquidator said if there was no valid reason for this transfer, it had the potential to be an “unfair preference” transaction.

The liquidator said the rest of the money went to OHHD.

The property sale triggered a GST liability to the ATO. But nothing was left to pay that bill.

It appears the ATO ultimately received about $69,000.

The liquidator alleged Mr Latif may have committed offences against the Corporations Act but he didn’t have the resources to pursue his suspicions and nothing appears to have been proven.

Mr Latif did not respond to requests for comment.

Originally published as Banned director Muhammad Latif was allowed to run an NDIS company claiming $50m of taxpayer funds a year