Du Val co-founder Kenyon Clarke.
Photo: kenyonclarke.com
Forensic accountants are continuing to find “areas of concern” as they look into the accounts of the failed Du Val Group.
Statutory managers have released their latest six-month report into the group of about 70 entities that collapsed in 2024 owing more than $300 million to hundreds of people.
Its founders Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke have had their personal assets and passports frozen.
In the latest report, the statutory managers said they could not give many details about their latest discoveries because they did not want to prejudice any formal action that may come later.
The Financial Markets Authority was also investigating the group and had the power to pursue charges if warranted.
Today’s report showed the statutory managers still had many unanswered questions – the Clarkes had refused to be interviewed and had gone to the Court of Appeal seeking the right to refuse.
The managers said extensive forensic accounting analysis needed to continue partly because of the group’s “materially incomplete” accounting records.
“While investigations have progressed and further related issues have been identified for analysis, to ensure that any potential subsequent formal action is not prejudiced, no further information is currently able to be disclosed regarding our ongoing investigations into these areas of concern,” they said.
Broad concerns identified in earlier reports remained, including about GST transactions and the lack of clarity about goods paid for by the company but possessed by the Clarkes.
Since the last report, the debt owed by the group had fallen from $268 million to $226 million.
That was partly because some of its property developments had been sold including the Earlsworth, Sunnyvale and Edmonton residential projects.
None has been sold for a high enough price to cover the debt owing on them.
Investors in Du Vals Build to Rent Fund were likely to receive about 41 cents in the dollar on their investment after the sale of the fund’s residential properties in May last year, the report said.
Work was underway to sell to more developments, it said.
The report also gave an update on a British legal case against some Du Val entities that had wound up in New Zealand’s courts.
The British courts ordered Du Val to pay $1.35m (NZD) in damages and $164,205 (NZD) in costs.
The person awarded the costs was seeking to have the judgement recognised in New Zealand but the statutory managers opposed that in the High Court, the report said.
The judgement was pending.
The statutory managers are John Fisk, Stephen White and Lara Bennett.
They had previously been working under the PWC banner but the company sold its business restructuring arm to the global firm Teneo earlier this year.
The Authority said today it could not provide any update on where its investigation was at for “legal and confidentiality” reasons.
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