‘Tyrant’ Glenn Rosewall used tennis legend father Ken to get his way: CEO

Broking boss Glenn Rosewall used tennis champ father Ken’s reputation to get his way, a liquidators’ hearing heard.

Glenn Rosewall with father and “tennis legend” Ken Rosewall in 2012. Pic: Sam Mooy

Chairman of stockbroker BBY Glenn Rosewall was “a tyrant who ran the firm as a dictatorship’’, and used the presence of his tennis legend father Ken on the board to overcome objections, a court has heard.

Chief executive Arun Maharaj told the Supreme Court of NSW that Mr Rosewall was a master manipulator of staff, executives, directors and employees who used his father’s reputation to get his way.

“Because he had Ken on the board, who was a champion, a living legend who was deeply respected,” he told a liquidators’ hearing into BBY’s collapse.

“There were a lot of us were comforted that he was there,’’ Mr Maharaj said.

“You always felt safe that someone was there watching him and he would bring his father into the discussion and say everything was OK.

“So you trusted him.’’

Once the largest options broker and one of the biggest stock brokers on the Australian market, BBY collapsed in May 2015, stranding client funds and leaving St George bank chasing $13m in secured loans.

In a morning of sensational testimony, Mr Maharaj also told the hearing Mr Rosewall had instructed him to pay a $6 million windfall from an initial $50,000 investment of BBY money into his account and record it as a “bonus’’.

Mr Rosewall had directed Mr Maharaj to transfer $50,000 from BBY Nominees to Coalworks in 2008 and the shares had been worth $6 million when the company listed later that year.

The comments came in an outburst as Mr Maharaj was being grilled over Mr Rosewall’s instructions not to email him about a deal in which funds of the firm’s clients were used to help with its capital base.

Glenn Rosewall, last year.

The court heard that BBY had taken up to $20 million from a client account and used it to pay $9.5 million demanded by the ASX for BBY’s plan to grow its options broking business.

Mr Rosewall had promised to put $6 million of his money in to meet the capital requirements in 2011 but had instead instructed that the money come from an account kept for the firm’s clients, who traded foreign exchange and other products through the Saxo trading platform.

Mr Maharaj said he had been reassured by Mr Rosewall that he would transfer $6 million of his money to meet the bigger-than-expected capital call, but failed to do so.

He said after returning from holidays in January 2012 he discovered it had not been transferred and threatened to resign.

“It is very disappointing, Glenn, because you promised me something and you didn’t do it, and it is not correct,’’ Mr Maharaj said he told Mr Rosewall

“He gave me excuses that he couldn’t find his banker.”

Arun Maharaj leaves court. Pic: Hollie Adams

Mr Maharaj said Mr Rosewall spoke to him in mid to late January that year and offered to “turn the wheel’’ by changing his title from chief financial officer to chief executive of BBY.

Counsel for KPMG David Pritchard asked if he withdrew his resignation.

“No, he spoke to me in mid to late January and asked what I wanted to do,” Mr Maharaj said.

“I said I thought we had a great platform … I wanted to grow this, I had a passion to grow this.’’

The court heard that Mr Rosewall had not put the $6m windfall into the Saxo accounts as promised by May 2012, when the Australian Securities and Investments Commission started asking questions.

Mr Maharaj said he was asked by Mr Rosewall to fix it “and don’t send me any emails”.

Mr Pritchard asked if he thought it was odd not have emails on the matter or whether he felt Mr Rosewall was trying to “maintain plausible deniability if things hit the fan?”

Mr Maharaj: “It should have Mr Pritchard, but it didn’t.”

The hearing continues.