Authorities Come Down on WA Developer, Victorian Builder

A builder and a developer on opposite sides of the country have been found to have conducted their businesses in unorthodox manners by two different authorities. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has disqualified Perth property tycoon and developer Allen Bruce Caratti from managing corporations for four years. Caratti was a director of three failed companies, ACN 142 745 337 Pty Ltd (formerly Mammoth Civil Pty Ltd), Whitby Land Company Pty Ltd and MNWA Pty Ltd between 2005 and 2017. All three companies operated in Perth in land development. ASIC determined that Caratti had incurred significant failures of governance and oversight. Mammoth Civil had not filed tax returns with the Australian Tax Office for the 2014-2015 financial year and did not maintain proper business records. Whitby Land Company did not register for an ABN or tax file number to file business activity statements between 2011 and 2012 and did not lodge returns from 2011 to 2013. The company was also found to have provided inconsistent information to the ATO on land development costs and failed to report part of the land sales in a development project. MNWA was found to have provided unsupported claims to the ATO for tax deductions from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012 and did not maintain proper business records. Caratti also provided signed assurance that he would resign as director and secretary of certain companies but did not do so thereby making false representations to ASIC. ASIC noted that further support for the disqualification decision also came from Caratti failing to aid the liquidator for Whitby and MNWA, Rob Kirman of McGrathNicol in Perth. ▲ Caratti ’ s companies focused on land development projects in Perth. Caratti appealed to the Administrative Review Tribunal on October 8, 2024 to review the decision and for a stay order for the decision and the issuing of a press release. The stay order application was refused on December 16, 2024 while the review application is ongoing. ASIC was able to disqualify Caratti under Section 206F of the Corporations Act, which states that a person can be disqualified if they held an officer role in two or more companies that were wound up within a seven year period with reports from liquidators on their inability to pay their debts. The Caratti family has been in ongoing legal battles over the future of a billion-dollar property and earthmoving empire started by the late Sergio “Mick” Caratti. Victorian builder fined $160,000 In Victoria, the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) has suspended a builder and issued a $160,000 fine. Melbourne-based builder Andrew Donald Little of ADL Home Building and Construction was suspended for conduct that posed a risk to public safety and creating serious financial and emotional harm to consumers. ▲ A project by Andrew Donald Little ’ s ADL Home Building and Construction. The VBA issued a show-cause notice ahead of disciplinary action on 58 grounds, including knowingly contravening the Building Act. It now wants to disqualify Little from the industry for three years, cancel his building registrations and fine him $160,000. The show cause notice is for two building sites at Kurunjang and Emerald and includes presenting a design for approval that was not compliant with fire-safety regulations, failing to include sprinklers in the design of a purpose-built specialist disability accommodation facility, and failing to include fire safety as set out in the building permit. It also alleged that Little commissioned work under a non-compliant major domestic building contract, that he took money for domestic building work without domestic building insurance and he left building owners with a non-compliant building that needed significant remediation to be used as specialist disability accommodation. Little is appealing the immediate suspension through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. ADL Home Building and Construction ’ s website released a statement claiming that the VBA did not follow proper procedures and failed to contact the company or Little to offer a chance to respond to the allegations. ▲ Victorian Building Authority chief executive Anna Cronin. The statement also claims that complaints about the procedural failure have been sent to the VBA ’ s chief executive, Anna Cronin, VBA acting chief executive Todd Bentley and the Victorian ombudsman. Bentley stood behind the suspension and the proposed disqualification. “Protecting consumers is our priority and that means removing those who do the wrong thing from the industry,” Bentley said.

Authorities Come Down on WA Developer, Victorian Builder

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