An example of the Chris Craft powerboat purchased by MissChu for Sydney Harbour yacht deliveries
Creditors have little chance of recovering the $4.6 million owed to them following the sale of the MissChu Vietnamese restaurant chain back to founder Nahji Chu.
As reported by SmartCompany last week, Chu has bought the six Sydney MissChu sites and catering business back from administrators through MissChu Holdings, a company controlled by the Mawson Group and Chu.
But the chances of MissChu’s creditors recovering any of the $4.6 million owed “were very unlikely” KordaMentha’s Rahul Goyal told The Australian.
He says Chu “had potentially traded while insolvent and potentially faced civil and criminal charges”.
KordaMentha has auctioned several company assets including a luxury American built Chris Craft 25 Launch powerboat, which MissChu used for delivery to yachts in Sydney Harbour.
“For me, living in Sydney and being a former refugee made me feel as if I should own a boat,” Chu said when she bought the Chris Craft.
“If you’re going to keep calling me a boat person, I’m going to take that literally!”
KordaMentha’s creditors meeting minutes records that Chu returned $95,000 worth of jewellery to KordaMentha.
“The chairman did not discuss the reasons why they were acquired and the circumstances,” the minutes state.
The Australian reports the status of a Rolex watch and Cartier ring also purchased using company funds is unknown.
KordaMentha will report to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission at the end of the month.
Chu told SmartCompany the claims made about the status of the missing watch and ring and that the company had potentially traded while insolvent were unproven.
“Those claims have to be proven and a forensic has been conducted on me and MissChu since [the] voluntary administration. Nothing untoward has surfaced.
I was not trading while insolvent.”
“It’s important for me to keep MissChu alive and a successful model and public support, which I do have, is important to that process especially for the welfare of all stakeholders and the future viability of the business,” she says.
SmartCompany contacted KordaMentha for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Cara Waters is a former SmartCompany editor. Previously, Cara was a senior reporter for the Financial Times’ website and worked for The Sunday Times in London.
