Vestey Trust promoter banned from managing companies
ASIC has disqualified a Sydney-based solicitor for 18 months for her involvement in the failure of two companies that provided accounting and debt management services.
The corporate regulator has announced the disqualification of Sydney-based director Dominique Grubisa for 18 months, effective 24 May 2024.
In a recent statement, ASIC said it found Grubisa had failed to deliver on standards expected from a company director and engaged in insolvent trading.
Grubisa was disqualified by ASIC under Section 206F of the Corporations Act.
This allows the corporate regulator to disqualify people for a maximum of five years within a seven-year period if a managing person is involved with two or more companies which have become wound up.
Grubisa failed to exercise her powers and discharge her duties as a director of DGI Accounting Pty (DGIA) and DGI Debt Management Pty Ltd (DGID) with the required level of care and diligence.
At the time of ASIC’s decision, DGIA and DGID owned a combined total of $305,623, the main creditor being the ATO.
Grubisa was the sole director of DGIA from 10 April 2018 to 26 August 2022 and DGID from January 2019 to 26 August 2022.
Both companies provided a range of professional services, with DGIA focused on accounting and DGID focused on debt management.
On 19 July 2024, the Federal Court made orders against Master Wealth Control Pty Ltd (MWC) and Grubisa in proceedings brought by the ACCC.
This included the order that Grubisa pay $1 million in penalties and be disqualified from managing corporations for the maximum penalty of five years.
On 22 May 2024, Grubisa pursued a review of ASIC’s decision through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which included a delay of the decision and confidentiality orders.
The AAT granted Grubisa’s request on 3 June 2024 with an interim delay of the ASIC’s disqualification ruling and confidentiality applications.
On 22 July 2024, a delay in the decision was ordered by the AAT until 1 August 2024.
The stay was agreed to by all parties based on conditions such as Grubisa only being allowed to remain director of a single company, MWC for limited purposes.
On 30 July 2024, the stay was extended until 18 October 2024 before the AAT dismissed Grubisa’s confidentiality application on 23 July 2024.
Previously, Grubisa was banned by ASIC in April 2022 for four years on the findings that she claimed to hold Australian financial services and credit licences when she did not.
However, the AAT set aside this disqualification on the basis “that while it was satisfied that grounds existed to make the banning orders, it was not satisfied the discretion should be exercised.”
In addition to this Grubisa was ordered to pay millions in penalties and refunds for “promoting and selling two education programs that made false or misleading promises to protect consumers’ assets and equity, in July this year.
In the end, Grubisa was handed a $1 million penalty.
For Grubisa’s current disqualification, ASIC relied on supplementary reports from DV Recovery Management liquidator Danny Vrkic.
