Former PwC Australia boss Luke Sayers will on Thursday finally appear before the Senate inquiry committee into the federal government’s use of consultants. The prominent businessman will be probed on what he knew and when about the accounting firm’s all-consuming tax leak scandal.
Melbourne-based Sayers, president of the Carlton Football Club, now runs his own eponymously named advisory and consulting shop, Sayers Group.
A who’s who of corporate backers are set to be monitoring their man’s performance in the hot seat before the likes of Labor senator Deborah O’Neill and Greens senator Barbara Pocock.
There are plenty of rich and powerful folk that are shareholders in Sayers’ post-PwC venture, some of whom we were already aware of and some who have stayed under the radar.
No less than the secretary-general of the OECD and former Liberal finance minister Mathias Cormann is an equity holder in the group, although he doesn’t show up on records because he holds his stake via a bare trust that is administered by Sayers himself.
According to documents seen by Margin Call, other shareholders via this secret group also include radio presenter Russel Howcroft, who remains a “brand design” adviser with the firm.
Others include the wife of Sayers CEO Sammy Kumar, Cynthia Kumar, both of whom are ex-PwC. Cynthia is godmother to one of Sayers’ children.
Former PwC heavy hitters now at Sayers including Peter Matheos, Richard Shackcloth, James Collins (who was Sayers’ chief of staff at PwC) and Julie Trainor are all also equity holders. William Broughton, a Goldman Sachs backer who joined Sayers last year, is the newest addition to the trust group. A spokesman for Sayers told us the equity holdings via the secret trust were normal for an organisation such as that created by the former PwC boss.
While Sayers and to a lesser extent his key people all have shares, the real financial firepower comes from some of Melbourne’s heaviest hitters when it comes to business.
Their man Sayers will be a must-see this morning for the likes of trucking billionaire Lindsay Fox and his son David Fox, Seek founder Andrew Bassett, Helloworld Travel owner and Liberal Party heavy hitter Andrew Burnes and Jayco Caravans and racehorse owner Gerry Ryan.
Sayers’ performance today, scheduled to unfold over 90 minutes, has the potential to reverberate far and wide.
Packer’s peeve
Billionaire James Packer finds himself all caught up in a sea of bureaucratic red tape.
The businessman, who has business interests and homes around the world, is locked in an almost year-long battle with local authorities around his and his consortium partners’ efforts to develop about 3ha of land they own in the satellite city of Geelong. Their plans to develop the Sharland Rd, Corio site, which they have held since April 2022, have already been twice rejected by planners, as well as been referred to state government authorities.
The consortium at the end of last month submitted what was a third version of its plans in an attempt to gain approval for the affordable homes development from authorities.
It is now almost a year since the group first lodged details of the 108-dwelling project with the City of Greater Geelong.
Other investors in the project, which is based on a former state primary school site, include former Crown Resorts strategy boss Todd Nisbet and Melbourne businessman and former ABC director Joe Gersh, via his South Yarra-based Gersh Funds Management.
Melbourne residential developer Deniz Sivasli is also involved in the project, which is named Edenville Corio.
Packer also has stakes in developments with various partners planned for Manly and Potts Point in Sydney, as well as in Melbourne’s CBD and suburban Balwyn.
Meantime, closer to home for Packer, the billionaire has his place in Beverley Hills, California up for sale for the cool price of $US85m. He bought the house, once owned by actor Danny DeVito, four years ago for $US60m from developers who had renovated the property.
Marketing photos reveal an expansive, classic 12-bedroom family home, complete with a jar of Vegemite on the kitchen shelf just above the toaster.
Nice touch.
Sale amid saga
In the latest instalment of our Forum Finance fiasco, alleged fraudster Vincenzo Tesoriero’s house in Hawthorn has been snapped up in what might be the deal of the century.
The swish five-bedroom, three-bathroom, plus tennis court pile at 64-66 Berkeley St has gone for $9.3m, just shy of earlier bolshie estimates of a $9.5m return.
The house, owned in the name of Tesoriero’s father Giovanni, has been on the block as the long-running legal saga grinds through the courts.
This comes after the Tesoriero clan dropped $7.95m on the house back in 2020.
Readers may remember Tesoriero for his alleged role in the alleged bank heist of the century, what appears to be Australia’s biggest bank fraud.
Tesoriero and his former business partner Bill Papas are alleged to have been at the heart of a scheme which used fake printer leases to siphon almost $600m from a trio of banks to fund nice things including jet skis, boats, petrol stations, and far too many houses.
The buyers of casa Tesoriero have proven elusive, with Kay and Burton senior sales consultant Walter Dodich telling this column to go figure it out somewhere else.
Sale documents reveal the home was purchased by Fang Wang.
The sale comes as everyone in the Forum orbit has started to wonder just how much longer we all have to wait for a judgment in the case. The legal fracas, which wrapped up arguments in February this year, is due for judgment from judge Elizabeth Cheeseman in a move which may decide whether Tesoriero has to wear the blame for the alleged fraud.
Papas, the alleged brains trust of the scheme, is still nowhere to be seen after liquidators seized his beloved Xanthi FC in Greece.
The last we heard, Papas was sunning himself on the beach.
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