Peats Ridge Director May Give Court Testimony

Amidst claims that the ticket and bar numbers “don't add up”, the Peats Ridge Festival's Director Matt Grant could be summoned to court to give a testimony under oath after the festival's new liquidators indicated today they'll pursue a public examination of the collapsed company.

Following the festival's collapse and fall-out, a meeting of creditors yesterday resulted in the remarkable outcome of the liquidation process being taken away from original administrators Jirsch Sutherland. Unhappy that the firm had handled proceedings for Peats Ridge four times previously, the creditors – mobilised by the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance [MEAA] – voted to install building and construction firm Worrells to the job.

They also voted in a Creditors Committee of ten, who will work closely with the liquidators. That Committee includes representatives from John Butler's management, APRA, Sorted Events, Cass Eager & The Velvet Rope, The Black Seeds, Claude Hay, Constant Solutions, Billions Australia, Simon George and Top Shelf Productions.

Today the forensic accountant company's Craig Tinker told theMusic.com.au that they would be preparing their own updated Creditor's Report and said, “We're probably looking a public examination of the director and any other parties involved.”

A public examination would involve Grant being summoned to court to deliver a testimony under oath. Although no result would come directly from that testimony, evidence gathered could be used for other actions.

Tinkler said that today was being spent gathering Jirsh Sutherland's existing reports. Moving forward they will be looking to recoup Creditors' money that appears lost on the original report, and can commence legal proceedings if they believe someone knowingly incurred debt while the company was insolvent.

The move to dump Kirsch Sutherland and appoint Worrells was described by Mal Tulloch, entertainment, crew and sport section Director at the MEAA, as “A very positive step forward to hold people accountable.”

He told theMusic, “You can do the simple math from the gate and the bar… and the numbers just don't add up. This is a job now for the liquidators to do a forensic examination.”

Previously, Julian Hartley from bar operators Sorted Events had alleged to theMusic.com.au that money in a joint account with the festival had “disappeared” but Grant strongly refuted the claim, saying that it had been claimed as part of the liquidation process. (TheMusic.com.au could not verify either claim, but the allegations were later published by Fairfax.)

A public examination will determine whether Sorted were overestimating that account.

Tulloch said that the result of yesterday's creditors' meeting was “unprecedented” in his time given that, “creditors have overturned a voluntary liquidation.”

The MEAA are taking a strong interest in the festival collapse because a number of the unions members alerted them to the situation. Tulloch hopes that a Peats Ridge outcome will strengthen the Alliance's position as a force in the music industry.

“There needs to be some sort of examination of why laws in this country allow this to happen, and if there are laws why are they being broken,” he said.

Today theMusic.com.au was unable to contact Matt Grant by phone and have had no response from an email.