Staff roast North over super loss
Chef Kenneth Siri is still working at Charlie & Co after it was taken over but is furious he has lost his super
Staff at celebrity chef Justin North's failed restaurant group appealed to the Australian Tax Office to help secure unpaid super entitlements six months before it collapsed. The Sunday Telegraph has learned staff complained to the ATO earlier this year but nothing was done to resolve the situation before the Becasse group collapsed this month owing more than $4 million.
On Friday, Employment Minister Bill Shorten ordered an "urgent" inquiry into the ATO's failure to respond.
Mr North's ex-employees are owed about $990,000 in missing super, which had been paid only partly since 2006.
Mr North is facing bankruptcy and the loss of his home.
"Things got messy," a devastated Mr North said. "You pay super on a quarterly basis and things accrue and get out of control and then you struggle to meet your commitments."
Chef Kenneth Siri, who worked at Mr North's burger bar Charlie & Co, said he was "shocked, angry and stressed" over his missing super.
"About three months ago we got told from the floor manager that the super was gone, my money had vanished," Mr Siri said.
He knew there was "big trouble" around April when regular deliveries stopped.
"Things started breaking down and we couldn't get anybody in to fix stuff; tradesman and suppliers wouldn't deal with us because they hadn't been paid," he said.
Another ex-staffer said: "Here was a guy who was being paid more than $150,000 per year, and even gave himself a pay rise back in May, yet he couldn't even pay the super for his hard-working staff."
Asked if bankruptcy loomed, Mr North said: "Absolutely. That will probably happen. It will only be through the spite of large companies." A Ferrier Hodgson administrators' report said the businesses had "likely been insolvent from no later than September 2011" and "potential instances of preference payments, unfair loans and unreasonable director-related transactions" had occurred.
It is an offence to trade while insolvent.
But Mr North said he was a victim of the global financial crisis, and said he would defend any prosecution.
Staff told The Sunday Telegraph they first became suspicious around Christmas when some foreign-born staff members sought to cash in super entitlements when leaving Australia.
Mr Shorten said: "There is a clear public interest in having this resolved as soon as possible."
When a company is liquidated, secured creditors are paid before staff, and in Mr North's case, there are no residual funds left to pay missing superannuation.
Ten days ago Mr North's restaurants Becasse, Etch, Quarter 21 and Le Grand Cafe were placed into liquidation.
Charlie & Co and Becasse Bakery avoided closure when Jones the Grocer paid $430,000 to take them over. Staff at those venues have kept their jobs.
National Australia Bank and Mulpha Australia were secured creditors. A source said NAB "was not currently" contemplating bankrupting Mr North but Mulpha Australia, which owns Etch's landlord InterContinental Sydney, was less willing to rule the action out.
Mr North's Neutral Bay apartment was mortgaged through NAB and is currently on the market
Mr North said he believed he deserved credit for not running away from his plight. "Obviously I've spent my whole life working towards making my businesses a success and when it all ends, you are f ... ... and back to zero," he said.
Source: The Sunday Telegraph, 29 July 2012
