Fraser said the group had struggled after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found in 2019 that the firm was partly financially responsible for the millions of dollars in damages arising from the Lacrosse tower fire in November 2014, which was ignited by a cigarette left on a balcony but fuelled by combustible cladding.
Di Carlo said in the report to the creditor that she was conducting an investigation to verify these allegations.
An atist’s impression of the Premier Tower project, which has since been built. Elenberg Fraser was behind the design.
“I note immediately that the financial statements do not reflect this, with sales being recorded for the company for the 2022 and 2023 years, for $10m and $6m respectively,” Di Carlo wrote in her report.
“This does not appear consistent with the allegations made by the director that the company wasn’t generating new income or actively trading.”
Di Carlo is also investigating whether the group traded while insolvent given its only asset was a loan to Fraser that he now says was actually wages that did not need to be repaid.
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The liquidator reconstructed Fraser’s books for the four years between 2020 and 2023, moving the loan from an asset to a cost to…
