End of line for Bill Express empire

Retail king Gerry Harvey has also spoken about his failed investment in Bill Express, declaring he should be "flogged" for buying shares in the company.

On Monday, accounting firm Worrells notified the Australian Securities Exchange that it had been appointed voluntary administrator of On Q.

No announcement was made by the two remaining directors of On Q, Ian Christiansen and Julian Little.

Also placed in administration on Monday was Technology Business Systems, which is controlled by Sandro DiDonato - a friend and business associate of Ian Christiansen and his recently deceased brother, Hal, who together ran Bill Express and OnQ.

Dye & Co is the administrator of TBS. TBS provided support services and call-centre services to Bill Express and is believed to include three banks - ANZ, NAB and Westpac - among its creditors.

TBS also owns the computer servers on which the financial records of Bill Express are stored. Bill Express administrator Craig Crosbie, of PPB, has demanded access to the electronic records contained on those servers.

Full Disclosure believes that 10 former directors and staff of Bill Express, TBS and On Q have received an S33 Notice from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission demanding they turn over documents, emails and computer records for the period between January 1, 2005, and July 17 this year.

Under section 33 of the ASIC Act, the regulator can issue a notice requiring a person to produce books or documents in their possession.

DiDonato received a

second ASIC notice on Friday, demanding that he provide access to the servers on which Bill Express' financial records are held.

A spokesman for DiDonato, Michael Smith of Inside PR, confirmed that his client had received at least one ASIC notice.

"As far I know, Sandro has complied with that ASIC request and has provided access to servers from Monday," Smith said. "The notice concerns financial documents related to Bill Express, but I do not know if those documents will be provided to PPB.

"I also don't know of any earlier ASIC notice demanding emails or other information."

As part of its investigation into Bill Express, ASIC is examining potential market manipulation of the share price of the company to the benefit of On Q, following a referral from the ASX in March.

On Q owned 37% of Bill Express' shares. It then transferred a significant proportion of those into margin loan accounts with Opes Prime, Tricom and Chimaera Capital.

Smith also confirmed that DiDonato had put TBS into administration. "Its income stream came exclusively from Bill Express," he said. "Once that fell over, there was no other option."

Victor Dye, of TBS administrator Dye & Co, said he was not confident of much return from TBS. "It is very early, but we have examined the balance sheet and do not place any credence at all on the information contained therein," Dye said. "We have examined, for example, the assets listed as plant and equipment in the balance sheet. We do not have much confidence in getting any return on those assets."

Meanwhile, Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey said he believed the Bill Express business model was fundamentally sound before he invested.

"I own 10%," Harvey told Full Disclosure. "They came to see me before they floated it, and I thought they had a good company, so I bought 10% of it. And they floated it and their shares went from 20 to about 30, and I thought 'this is good, I've made 50% of my money'. But I was just a shareholder."

Harvey said he had followed the demise of the company in BusinessDay reports. "I did my money," he said. "From my point of view, that was a bad investment. I thought they had a good business, otherwise I wouldn't have bought 10% of it.

"Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it was one of those things that went down the gurgler. For me, I was just a shareholder. I had nothing to do whatsoever with the business and I've only read what I read in the papers.

"I've never spoken to any of the ex-directors since they got into trouble. I just look at it and say, 'well, that's gone'. There's no point in me mulling over it, and worrying about it, it's gone."

Asked if the demise of the company warranted a forensic investigation and the intervention of regulators, Harvey said: "If there's reason to have one, yes, but if there's not, sometimes you can waste a lot of money chasing nothing."

Harvey said he did not expect any return from administrator PPB. "If I get anything, it will be a bonus," he said. "I've certainly written it off."

On Q for queries

INVESTORS in On Q have already queried the voluntary administration of the company, which is apparently so devoid of funds that we hear many big accounting players ran when asked to pick up the poison chalice - for fear of not getting paid their hefty fees. Directors Ian Christiansen and Julian Little have put listed

On Q Group and two private subsidiaries, On Q Technologies and Motorlink Systems, into administration.

There was no mention of several other companies that are 100% owned and controlled by listed On Q. These include On Q Company, Bopo Cards (International), Cash4Biz, Diagnostic Automotive Research Technology and

On Q Vietnam.

Quizzed as to why those five businesses were untouched, administrator Worrells said it was a question for the remnants of the On Q board.

Called to the bar

FROM little things, big things grow. It was less than a year ago that bartender Sebastian Reaburn opened his cocktail bar 1806 in Exhibition Street.

It has been a hit with a few well-heeled business and legal types working uptown, who can sneak away from Collins and Bourke for a proper Friday night drink.

Sadly for them, the secret is now out - Reaburn's bar has just won the Best Cocktail List in the World award at the Tales of the Cocktail Festival in New Orleans.

Your chance to be connected.

Come across any corporate stupidity or serendipity? Contact Full Disclosure. mhawthorne@theage.com.au