[AusNOG] PennyTel/Hi-Tech/iVoisys In Liquidation

[Skeeve Stevens]

Ok ok.. 10 emails later.  Yes, I know I put November... I was just hopeful.
 Supposed to be October ;-)


...Skeeve

*Skeeve Stevens - *eintellego Networks Pty Ltd
skeeve at eintellegonetworks.com ; www.eintellegonetworks.com

Phone: 1300 239 038; Cell +61 (0)414 753 383 ; skype://skeeve

facebook.com/eintellegonetworks ;  <http://twitter.com/networkceoau>
linkedin.com/in/skeeve

twitter.com/theispguy ; blog: www.theispguy.com


The Experts Who The Experts Call
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On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 9:29 AM, Skeeve Stevens <
skeeve+ausnog at eintellegonetworks.com> wrote:

> All,
>
> This might be old news to some people, but I missed anything back in June,
> so it is all new to me.
>
> Just an FYI as I know a lot of people dealt with them at one time or
> another.
>
> ...Skeeve
>
> ---
>
> *From CRN, 24th November 2013* -
> http://www.crn.com.au/News/361711,pennytel-in-liquidation-amid-fraud-claims.aspx?eid=4&edate=20131024&utm_source=20131024&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter
>
> PennyTel in liquidation amid fraud claims
> Dragged under by Hi-Tech Telecom in liquidation.
>
> Mobile reseller PennyTel and wholesale VoIP provider iVoisys have both
> been forced into liquidation, after the NSW Supreme Court heard evidence of
> questionable payments to the companies from a debt-laden parent company.
>
> PennyTel offered mobile and broadband plans running on the Vodafone
> network, while iVoiSys resold IP telephony and unified communications
> services over the same network. Both were ordered by the NSW Supreme Court
> to appoint a provisional liquidator last week.
>
> Until March 2013, both PennyTel and iVoisys were run by director Amadu
> Yahaya, an African national based in Sydney.
>
> Yahaya was also the founder and sole director of Hi-Tech Telecom (HTT), a
> networking and VoIP provider to the enterprise market, which entered into
> liquidation in June 2013 after its major creditor investigated a series of
> suspect financial transactions made by the company.
>
> From around September 2010, HTT had entered into a factoring facility<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoring_(finance)> with
> Allianz whereby the creditor would loan HTT funds against unpaid invoices
> from customers. HTT's original limit of $7.1 million ballooned to $15
> million by March 2012.
>
> When HTT sought a further increase earlier this year, Allianz embarked on
> an independent verification of the balance of cash owed to Hi-Tech Telecom
> by its debtors.
>
> Allianz discovered that several purported customers had no dealings with
> HTT, while others acted in a suspicious manner — causing the bank to
> question the legitimacy of HTT’s invoices.
>
> Further investigation revealed that 21 of 45 debtors said to owe $23
> million to HTT never had any dealings with the company. The remaining 24
> were not able to be reached.
>
> Liquidators were appointed, with Allianz as secured creditor, who is still
> owed some $14.4 million.
>
> *'Unjustified payments'*
>
> Hi-Tech's receivers have now come after the PennyTel and iVoiSys
> businesses.
>
> All three companies are registered at the same residential address in
> North Ryde. Yahaya was the sole director of both iVoiSys and PennyTel until
> March 2013.  Megan Havyatt, also registered at the same address, is now the
> sole director of both. The court heard evidence that Havyatt and Yahaya
> were in a domestic relationship with two children.
>
> The directorship of HTT, meanwhile, was transferred to one Robert Van
> Leeuwen, who has not assisted recievers with their investigations.
>
> The court found that Yahaya had transferred $3.9 million to PennyTel and
> $1.2 million to iVoiSys earlier this year, for no apparent reason.
>
> "I am satisfied that the evidence shows that, on the face of things, a
> fraud appears to have been perpetrated on Allianz and on HTT," said Supreme
> Court Justice James Stevenson in a judgment granting search and freeze
> orders against Yahaya, iVoiSys and PennyTel on behalf of HTT in June.
>
> No business records for the operations of HTT were able to be found.
>
> Yahaya was not present for the June hearings, his last contact with HTT's
> recievers made by telephone, in which Yahaya claimed to be in Los Angeles,
> USA.
> ---
> *From Commsday, 25th November 2013*
>
> *VoIP providers in liquidation following court proceedings*
>
> A group of small telco resellers that includes mobile reseller and voice
> over IP provider Pennytel as well as VoIP provider Ivoisys have gone into
> liquidation. Both companies were involved in a court case in June this year
> with Hi Tech Telecom, also now in liquidation, which is being chased by
> credi- tors including Allianz for millions of dollars allegedly owing.
>
> In the court case in June, HTT alleged that Pennytel and Ivoisys owed it
> $3.9 million and $1.3 mil- lion respectively, while an amount of $14.4 is
> owed by HTT to Allianz, according to the court docu- ments. HTT is also
> alleging fraud against Pennytel and Ivoisys, which both share a registered
> office. In June, the Supreme Court found that Amadu Yahaya, the sole
> shareholder of HTT, had transferred some $1.2 million to Ivoisys and the
> sum of $3.9 million to PennyTel, from funds that had been ad- vanced by
> Allianz. Yahaya has since moved overseas.
>
> The court proceeding noted that the receivers have been unable to find any
> regular business rec- ords of HTT. The only source of documentary
> information available to the receivers to date is infor- mation that they
> have been able to obtain from Allianz, from HTT's bankers (NAB and Westpac)
> and from ASIC.
>
> It's also not the first time the companies have been involved in
> controversy. In 2011 Optus cut the service of PennyTel, forcing it to port
> its customers over to Vodafone. At the time Optus had said that the move
> was a “commercial decision”.
>
> HTT had previously been sued for unpaid invoices by Uganda Telecom in a
> case that took place in Uganda but was registered by the courts in
> Australia. An arbitrator had delivered an award against Hi- Tech, and
> Uganda Telecom applied to the Federal Court to register the award as an
> Australian judgement.
>
> Geoff Long
>  ---
>
> ...Skeeve
>
> *Skeeve Stevens - *eintellego Networks Pty Ltd
> skeeve at eintellegonetworks.com ; www.eintellegonetworks.com
>
> Phone: 1300 239 038; Cell +61 (0)414 753 383 ; skype://skeeve
>
> facebook.com/eintellegonetworks ;  <http://twitter.com/networkceoau>
> linkedin.com/in/skeeve
>
> twitter.com/theispguy ; blog: www.theispguy.com
>
>
> The Experts Who The Experts Call
> Juniper - Cisco - Cloud
>
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