Liquidators chase former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou over payments

Former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou is facing court action over his involvement in the collapse of major vocational education group Acquire Learning & Careers.

Acquire’s liquidators, led by Barry Wight of insolvency firm Cor Cordis, filed the action in the Federal Court this week against Andrew Demetriou's family trust to claw back payments made while he was at Acquire.

Andrew Demetriou has long denied having any involvement in the day-to-day management of Acquire and instead insists he was only a member of the group's advisory board. Credit: Josh Robenstone

Liquidators used public examinations into the affairs of Acquire Learning last year to investigate the former AFL supremo's involvement in the company, including allegations he was a "shadow director" (a director who was not formally listed on the group's paperwork filed with ASIC) of Acquire. The examinations made no findings of fact, including whether Mr Demetriou was a shadow director.

Acquire Learning was raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year thanks to generous government grants to private college operators and had hopes of listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.

However, the group collapsed into administration in May, 2017, amid a scandal over how it had pressured students into signing up to courses. Its collapse left it owing its creditors, including the federal government, $147 million and stranded tens of thousands of students attending its colleges.

The company’s fortunes faded after a clampdown by the federal and state governments on vocational education providers signing up thousands of students in order to qualify for upfront government payments. The clampdown was sparked by a slew of news reports into various operators in the industry.

In 2017 Acquire was found to have engaged in unconscionable conduct over its handling of students, following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. No findings were made against Mr Demetriou personally and he has long denied having any involvement in the day-to-day running of the company. Mr Demetriou insists he was instead just a member of Acquire’s advisory board. He declined to comment when contacted by The Age on Wednesday.

The collapse of Acquire has dogged Demetriou for years after Mr Wight and his team at Cor Cordis dug into the Crown Resorts director's role at Acquire.

The public examination heard Acquire's co-founder, Mr Demetriou’s nephew Tim Demetriou, had described his uncle as an arm’s length sounding board for the executives of the company, a member of senior management and executive chairman.

The 2019 examination into Acquire also heard emails, meeting notices and internal documents indicated that Mr Demetriou was involved in key meetings to discuss the future operations of the company in his capacity as a shareholder.

Mr Demetriou received more than $1.7 million in shareholder loans from Acquire, which were repaid by bonuses awarded to him by the company.

He was a minority shareholder of Acquire and received $900,000 a year from Acquire for his advisory role.

The money being sought by liquidators relates to money paid to Mr Demetriou by the company between July 2016 and March 2017.

Emails presented to the court examinations showed the advisory board was dismantled in July 2016 a day before the ACCC fined Acquire $4.5 million for misleading and deceptive conduct.

Mr Wight declined to comment.