paul scanlon
Complaint 147192 Details

$2.05m property sold to cover $400k loan
Norrie Ross
Herald Sun
August 06, 20126:49PM
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A GOLD Coast businessman said today that a Melbourne property was sold for $2.05 million to cover a $400,000 loan made by his company six months earlier.

Paul James Scanlon, 35, told a Federal Court liquidator's examination that in 2010 his company Global Investments agreed to loan $1 million to a Melbourne company, MPM Capital.

On March 29, 2010 MPM drew down $250,000 from the loan and then a further $150,000.

Mr Scanlon told lawyer Stephen Mansour, appearing on behalf of the liquidator of MPM, that with establishment fees, interest and default payments the amount outstanding was $691,000 by April 7, 2010.

Mr Scanlon said he believed he was introduced to MPM by another Queensland company called Auswise and with default fees, legal fees, interest and other charges the amount owed had grown by to $1.95 million in six months.

In July 2010 the loan facility was terminated, Mr Scanlon said, and a property in Queens Pde, Clifton Hill owned by MPM was sold and settled in November the same year for just over $2 million.

Mr Scanlon told the court that global Investments was in the business of lending money.

Mr Mansour said according to documents produced to the court by Mr Scanlon $250,000 of the proceeds of the property sale went to a called Monte Cristo Holdings through the HSBC bank in Singapore.

"It appears that way,'' Mr Scanlon said.

Mr Mansour asked Mr Scanlon why he directed $250,000 to Monte Cristo and he explained it was "business dealings between companies''.

Mr Mansour said that the documents showed a further $1.1 million went to a Gold Coast company, Bell Legal, but Mr Scanlon said he could not remember why Global paid over the money.

"Are you seriously saying you can't remember why you advanced $1.1 million,'' Mr Mansour said.

"I don't know. It was a few years ago,'' Mr Scanlon replied. "It would have been documented at the time.''

Mr Scanlon denied he was a director of Monte Cristo and said he could not name anyone associated with the company.

Mr Mansour asked if he had any communications, either verbal or in writing, with Monte Cristo and Mr Scanlon replied: "I might have''.

"Who?'' Mr Mansour asked and Mr Scanlon replied: "I don't know.''

Mr Scanlon said Global Investments was in the business of lending money and he denied that it had been renamed Prime Bank.

The businessman said he was involved with a company called Prime BNK, registered in Bundall, Qld but "it's not doing very much''.

Mr Mansour asked if Global Investments had lodged tax returns and he replied "yes, to my knowledge” and he when asked if Prime BNK had lodged tax returns he replied: "I would expect so, yes''.

Federal Court registrar David Pringle, sitting in Melbourne, made orders that Mr Scanlon produce bank statements detailing the various financial transactions and an emails or correspondence between Global and Monte Cristo and Global and Bell Legal.

The liquidator’s examination was completed and the case is expected to return to court at a later date.