Lempriere Grain: Growers seek answers on Will Lempriere’s involvement

GRAIN growers are seeking answers on the involvement of co-owner and former director Will Lempriere in the collapse of grain trader Lempriere Grain.

GRAIN growers are seeking answers on the involvement of co-owner and former director Will Lempriere in the collapse of grain trader Lempriere Grain.

Growers, who collectively lost millions of dollars in the failure of Lempriere Grain, were told by administrator Andrew Spring at last week’s creditors’ meeting the company only traded profitably once out of the past five years, despite having an annual turnover of about $50 million to $85 million.

Mr Lempriere, who was co-founder of Lempriere Grain, was a director from August 15, 2003, until he resigned on January 22 last year.

His term as a director covered some of the years when Lempriere Grain made losses.

He still owned half of the grain trader through Benwill Pty Ltd and Myaring Nominees Pty Ltd, with the other half owned by Singaporean commodity trader Starcom Resources, a subsidiary of Ajay Aggarwal’s Starcom Group.

Mr Lempriere told The Weekly Times last week he never had any operational involvement in the business.

“We, like others, have lost money as a result of the actions of unscrupulous people,” he said.

“This has sullied the Lempriere name’s good standing in Australian agribusiness, a matter of which I am extremely disappointed.”

Last week, The Weekly Times reported Mr Lempriere was owed $525,000 by Lempriere Grain as a shareholder loan.

He said he did not make a claim against the grain trader but his debt would have shown up in the company’s balance sheet as a long-term liability.

Mr Lempriere did not respond to The Weekly Times’ calls yesterday.

Creditors have sought information from Mr Spring on Mr Lempriere’s involvement in Lempriere Grain.