Mike Smith referred Hawke’s Bay Today to lawyer Alan Stuart, of Tauranga firm Harris Tate, who said on Tuesday no comment was being made “at this stage”.
Generally, a court will not grant an order to terminate liquidation unless all creditors have been paid or there is satisfactory provision for repayment, and that creditors have consented.
The liquidators reported it was not possible at the time of the report to estimate the likelihood of a distribution to creditors, nor a completion date for the liquidation.
Workforce Development (WDL), which had offices in Ford Rd, Onekawa, ceased operations with 22 staff at the time out of pocket of about seven week’s wages.
Most has been reimbursed by a director, although there has since also been mediation relating to employee grievances.
At the time the company was placed in liquidation it no longer had any employees, and liquidator Somerville said in the report no employees had contacted the liquidators regarding amounts owed by the company.
In April TEC chief executive Tim Fowler said the commission stopped funding Workforce Development in June last year after an investigation showed it was not complying with funding conditions.
Various factors raised concerns about WDL’s solvency, and stopping funding was necessary to “ensure the prudent use of public funds, and to protect the interest of future learners, and reputation of the tertiary education sector”, he said.
The commission offered support to WDL to transition learners to alternative providers if required, however, this was not taken up by WDL’s management, and since August last year engagement with WDL had mostly been around recovering debts owed.
The commission said the company had been co-operative with the inquiry, and staff said they had spent much of their time working on matters in the inquiry.
