The Chow brothers have been ordered to repay money they took out of a failed joint venture on the same day its accounts were frozen.
In the high court in Wellington yesterday, Justice Robert Dobson ruled that Michael and John Chow repay more than $137,000 that had been transferred from the bank account of Portfolio NZ Ltd, a joint venture between the Chows and Flax Design Group, into the Chow Group account.
He gave Flax Design five working days from receipt of the money to file an amended statement of claim, and the Chows a further 10 working days to make an application for summary judgment.
On August 12, also in the Wellington High Court, Judge Stephen Kos ordered that the Chows be restrained from using money from Portfolio's account.
That same day, but before they were served notice of the decision, the bothers transferred the money from Portfolio into their company's account.
Portfolio had been set up as a joint venture between the Chows and Flax Design to provide architectural and property management services for Chow Group.
Flax Design, owned by Stephen White and Sharon Vanesse, had paid $89,000 of the $123,000 it was supposed to for its third share in Portfolio before the Chows cancelled the deal.
As a result of the cancellation, Flax Design plans to sue the Chow's for more than $937,000.
Justice Dobson ruled that the Chow's were not in contempt of court over Judge Kos' earlier decision, although he described the timing of the transfer of money as “cute”.
Colin Williscroft
Thu, 22 Sep 2011
Thu, 22 Sep 2011
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