Creditors irate at choice of receiver

Former Nathans Finance director John Hotchin. Photo / Dean Purcell

Irate creditors of a failed printing and publishing group are taking legal action to stop a convicted fraudster from administering the businesses.

A long list of creditors are owed an estimated $3 million to $4 million following the collapse of shopping magazine publisher Retail Media and its associated printing company Horizon Printing.

The receiver for Retail Media and liquidator for Horizon is John Gilbert, who was sentenced to 3 years' jail in the early 1990s for fraud and struck off the Institute of Chartered Accountants' register.

A consortium of Retail Media creditors has gained a High Court injunction this week preventing Gilbert from dealing with the company's assets.

It has also applied to the court to have him removed as receiver.

Meanwhile Horizon Printing creditors are looking to force Gilbert to step aside as liquidator of that company, following the sale of the business's assets to a "phoenix" company on the eve of the liquidation.

Big Quality Print was incorporated on May 20, one day before Horizon Printing's shareholders appointed Gilbert as liquidator.

Owned by a former Horizon manager and a trustee company, Big Quality Print has bought Horizon's trading activities and a significant proportion of its equipment. It is operating out of Horizon's Avondale premises and has even retained the same phone number.

Accounting firm WHK Gosling Chapman - owed $200,000 and now one of the consortium of creditors - had applied to have Retail Media wound up.

Chief executive Rowan Chapman said the firm was "beaten to the punch" when interests associated with one of Retail Media's shareholders appointed Gilbert as receiver on June 5.

Three days later Retail Media's shareholders put the company into voluntary liquidation, appointing Ray Burgess and Craig Young of Restructuring Services as liquidators.

The consortium of creditors has also applied to the court to have Restructuring Services replaced as liquidator.

Greg Scott is a director and significant shareholder of both Retail Media and Horizon Printing.

When approached by the Herald, Scott said he was unable to comment because the companies were in the hands of the liquidators.

Asked if he had anything to say to his creditors, he replied: "If I did, I wouldn't be saying it through you."

Gilbert said he did not want to comment because he was in discussions with other liquidators about taking over the jobs. "I've become aware of some things and I'll probably be retiring."

Gilbert was sentenced in December 1993 after pleading guilty to defrauding his clients while working at accounting firm Spicer and Oppenheim.

Over a period of 4 years he took $373,000 to prop up the ailing Ramarama Country Inn in which he had an interest.

The talk in the printing industry has been that former Nathans Finance director John Hotchin was backing the newly established Big Quality Print.

However it's understood he acted only as an adviser to Greg Scott and his Horizon co-director Jason Hall.

Hotchin's name appears on the Personal Property and Securities Register as the person acting on behalf of the company.

Hotchin, brother of Hanover Finance shareholder Mark Hotchin, is facing charges under the Securities Act in relation to the $174 million collapse of Nathans.

Subsidiaries of APN News & Media, which publishes the Herald, are creditors of Retail Media and Horizon Publishing.