Serepisos' lawyer quits, bankruptcy bid to proceed
The embattled property developer's application to have two bankruptcy notices ruled invalid has failed, and his lawyer has withdrawn.
Embattled property developer Terry Serepisos' application to have two bankruptcy notices ruled invalid has failed, and his lawyer Justin Toebes has withdrawn as his counsel.
Mr Serepisos had applied to have the notices, related to loans from FM Custodians to Mr Serepisos' New Millennium Design and Century City Developments, set aside. Mr Serepisos owed the money because he had personally guaranteed both loans.
The initial loans were for more than $6 million, about $5 million of which was still owed.
In the Wellington High Court today, Mr Serepisos' lawyer Justin Toebes sought leave from Associate Judge David Gendall to withdraw as defence counsel. He said he understood that Mr Serepisos was not going to hire another lawyer to take the case.
Mr Toebes told the court that his client knew that he was going to withdraw as his counsel and, that should no alternative counsel appear in court today, his applications would more than likely be dismissed. Neither Mr Serepisos or another lawyer appeared in court.
Canterbury Mortgage Trust, operating under the FM Custodians umbrella, can now give Mr Serepisos notice that it intends to ask the court to make him bankrupt.
In dismissing the notices, Associate Judge Gendall said that on the basis of the material before the court, they had little chance of succeeding anyway.
He said despite Mr Serepisos contending that FM Custodians had security for the loans in the form of secured properties, it had been estimated that a sale of those properties would fall $2.3 million short of what was owed.
Colin Williscroft and Matt Nippert
Mon, 23 May 2011
Mon, 23 May 2011
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Serepisos' lawyer quits, bankruptcy bid to proceed
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