The corporate watchdog has lost its bid to have colourful former liquidator Andrew Wily put under the microscope for allegedly failing to properly run the administration of 12 companies linked to Sydney car wash king Anthony Sahade.
However, in a lengthy NSW Supreme Court judgment handed down on Thursday, Justice Paul Brereton declined to order an inquiry into the conduct of the two liquidators, dismissing ASIC's application with costs.
When ASIC lodged the action, it sought orders that both men be prohibited from practising as registered liquidators for a period determined by the court. Justice Brereton added that Mr Hurst had continued to practise without further adverse issues nearly a decade after playing a "subordinate" role in the liquidation of the companies in 2009."[As such] the prospects of establishing present unfitness ... are remote in the extreme."