HB Seafoods and D'Esposito companies face court over unpaid tax
Monday, 29 June 2020
Several companies of a Hawkes Bay-based fishing empire have slipped off Inland Revenue's hook but one is left dangling.
Nine companies in the Hawkes Bay Seafoods group were threatened with liquidation, but on Monday at the High Court in Wellington the Commissioner of Inland Revenue's action against eight of them was dropped.
The lawyer for the companies, Dean Russ, said the eight fishing vessel companies had settled their core tax, interest and penalty debts.
The remaining company, Hawkes Bay Seafoods, had not operated as a fishing company for over 18 months, and did not trade, but it held the maritime operators certificate for the group's fishing fleet.
**READ MORE:
* Three year ban on fishing will make 'no difference at all' to family's fishing empire
* More fines for Hawke's Bay-based fishing company
* Iwi buys Hawke's Bay Seafoods business at centre of under-reporting its fishing
* Hawke's Bay fishing company and directors back before court to be convicted
**
If it was liquidated it would halt fishing operations until that was resolved, Russ said.
He laid the blame for the company's current position at the feet of previous management. The coronavirus lockdown was also a major contributor to a failure to get the tax matters resolved.
He thought the total debt was $1.58 million, but Inland Revenue's lawyer, Alarna Sharratt, said it was more than $1.7m, with a higher portion in core debt than Russ suggested.
Previous proposals to settle the debt had been declined. PAYE had not been paid so that was a failure to account for money held on trust, and Inland revenue was less willing to wipe penalties on that kind of debt, she said.
Russ said an agreement was being finalised to sell some annual catch entitlement to Takitimu Seafoods for $1.2m, and other quota parcels could be sold.
The group had a new accountant who was rationalising about 35 companies in the group. Those companies were in some disarray, they were not trading but many had tax returns outstanding.
Inland Revenue opposed Hawkes Bay Seafoods being given more time to pay the tax bill but Associate Judge Kenneth Johnston allowed it until August 4.
The group's significant progress with the other eight companies would be lost if the critical company with the licence to go fishing was liquidated. He said it had one last opportunity to sort it out.
The group and its board should understand August 4 was the deadline, he said.
The group is owned by members of the D'Esposito family. Some assets were sold in 2019 to Takitimu Seafoods which iwi Ngāti Kahungunu controls.
Members of the D'Esposito group and family were fined more than $1m for fisheries offences in 2019.
It was the latest of several run-ins with the authorities, including two members of the family, and former Hutt-based companies Harbour Inn Seafood Export and Harbour City Seafoods being fined almost $1m for fishing offences in 1991.