Peats Ridge Director ‘Out Of Country’ As Money Hunt Continues

Matt Grant, Director of the embattled Peats Ridge Festival, says he will return to Australia after he travelled to France following the festival's collapse.

Festival creditors have been in a relentless hunt for missing funds since the event went bust in January, with current administrators Worrell's advising this week that they have reported to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission [ASIC] “potential offences committed by the director”.

Today artsHub have reported that Grant claims his French travels are to visit his wife and work for a month, and that he will absolutely be returning to Australia.

“The liquidator of Peats Ridge has been aware of this since the first meeting,” he said. “I have completely assisted and will continue to assist the liquidator. I have supplied all books and records, any insinuation that I am not returning to Australia is ridiculous.”

Previously the festival's liquidators – who were chosen by a Creditor's group after they were dissatisfied with the appointment of Jirsch Sutherland – have told theMusic that Grant will “probably” be asked to give a court testimony as part of a public examination.

More recently they outlined the number of revenue areas they'll be looking to acquire lost unaccounted money from, which included the dissipation of funds to “the director or related parties”.

In a letter arriving with creditors today Worrell's Chris Darin and Ivor Worrell advised that the reconciliation of pre-sale ticket revenue received through OzTix is “nearing completion”. They are also now actively working towards reconciling sponsorship revenue and cash takings from the event itself.