Cassimatis claim a bit rich: Ripoll

THE head of a parliamentary inquiry into Storm Financial's collapse has hit out at founders Emmanuel and Julie Cassimatis.

THE head of a parliamentary inquiry into Storm Financial's collapse has hit out at founders Emmanuel and Julie Cassimatis for lodging a $17 million claim against the Commonwealth Bank.

Bernie Ripoll, who chairs the parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services, said the duo's demand that the bank pay compensation for losses on their investments was "a bit rich".

"It's offensive to everybody," he said yesterday.

"They are exceptionally wealthy people who have bankrupted a whole lot of very small-time people - a lot of them were just battlers.

"More than anything else, this shows they couldn't even manage their own money."

The couple filed documents in the Supreme Court on Friday alleging the Commonwealth Bank was negligent and in breach of its contract for failing to provide accurate account statements on the value of their investment portfolio.

The claim revealed the Cassimatises held a $24m margin loan in August last year.

The Townsville-based financial planning company collapsed in March this year, owing creditors $80m.

Law firm Slater & Gordon's group practice leader Damian Scattini yesterday called on the Cassimatises to hand back to investors any proceeds from their Supreme Court claim.

"If they are successful in that claim they should hand it straight over to the widows and pensioners they took everything from," he said.

Slater & Gordon recently settled claims against the Commonwealth Bank on behalf of more than 50 people who had taken out loans to invest in schemes promoted by Storm. The Cassimatises could not be contacted for comment yesterday.