Bid to overturn Bond bankruptcy
The estranged partner of businessman Craig Bond is trying to overturn his bankruptcy amid a bitter row over more than $3.8 million cash.
Less than four weeks after Mr Bond put himself under the control of a Melbourne-based trustee, Dianne Beaman has asked the Federal Circuit Court to annul the bankruptcy to stop family trusts getting the lion's share of his estate.
At stake in the battle are the net sale proceeds from a home near Buckingham Palace that was formerly the home of Mr Bond's father Alan Bond and the patriarch's late wife Di Bliss.
Amid a long and bitter legal battle with Ms Beaman, Mr Bond tried to strike a compromise deal under Part X of the Bankruptcy Act in April last year to deal with more than $4.5 million he claimed to owe to family trusts.
He made the Part X proposal as Ms Beaman was trying to investigate his relationship with various trusts and family companies with assets including the family's Upphall estate in England.
Ms Beaman claims to be immediately owed $100,000 but could have a far bigger claim if she can establish a connection to various assets, including Mr Bond's former London home.
Bond appointed Melbourne accountant Daniel Juratowich as his bankruptcy trustee on June 5.
In a report to creditors sent late last week, Mr Juratowich said Ms Beaman has alleged that the debt owing to Mr Bond's related-party creditors was not due and payable.
The accountant said he did not possess evidence of the liabilities disclosed by the bankrupt.
He said he would have to investigate various matters, including why $1.7 million owed to Mr Bond by a family trust company was not recoverable.
Mr Bond claimed he owes that trust company, Tambar Pty Ltd, more than $1.6 million. He claims to owe another $2.85 million to a company linked to his brother John that owns Alan Bond's Cottesloe home. John Bond is shown in Mr Juratowich's report as allegedly being personally owed $249,000.
Any investigations by Mr Juratowich could be cut short if Ms Beaman succeeds in her annulment action and she is able to proceed with her own probe using $100,000 from the London sales proceeds.
The trustees report reveals that $100,000 is locked in a trustee account of Ms Beaman's lawyers until at least this Wednesday.
The trustee wants the $100,000 returned to the bankrupt estate.
The accountant has been named as a defendant in Ms Beaman's Federal Circuit Court action. Her application to overturn the bankruptcy has been listed for July 14.
