Liquidate and luxuriate – or back from the grave?

When times get tough, business fold. A strategic benefit of voluntarily liquidating a company is that, typically, a business which is euthanised is 'judgment proof' in that it cannot be pursued for debts. Unless the directors actively traded whilst insolvent, they also can't be pursued for company debts.

Most directors think that once the business is liquidated, that it the end of the matter. But what if the nightmares of the business could come back from the grave?

This is precisely what happened for Bullin Pty Ltd. Bullin encountered financial difficulty and was wound up. Prior to winding up, the company had committed some 500 overloading and overdimension offences between 2003 and 2007. One year after being liquidated, prosecutions were commenced against the director for 89 executive liability over mass offences.