No accounts for BXP associate TBS
The liquidators conducting a public examination in the Supreme Court of Victoria of those associated with the demise of Bill Express yesterday raised concerns that witnesses - the executives and directors of Bill Express - are comparing notes and co-ordinating their testimony.At one stage yesterday Peter Bick, barrister for the liquidators, asked the current witness, Sandro Di Donato, the owner of APN, the private company that trades as Activ8Me, why he had someone in the court room taking notes throughout the hearings."Do I? I don't know about that," said Sandro Di Donato.Di Donato did not know about or did not recall many issues raised by Bick, who said that the creditors of Bill Express (who are owed $250 million) are "entitled to a share of APN to this day.""No," replied Di Donato."Bill Express funded all the other companies in the group - TBS, OnQ, APN, didn't it Mr Di Donato?""No.""Bill Express funded the acquisition by [Di Donato company] Telecard Asia of APN didn't it?""No."Later Di Donato maintained that APN was "never" a part of the Bill Express group of companies, and that he had no knowledge of an ASX announcement by Bill Express CEO Ian Christiansen on 29 February 2008 reporting the purchase of APN by Bill Express for $1 million plus the write-off of $15 million in APN debt owed to the Bill Express group.Di Donato said that Ian Christiansen and deceased brother Hal, wanted to create "one mega company" out of the Bill Express/OnQ group of companies and delist it from the stock exchange.They "bullied, threatened, pressured me," said Di Donato."They wanted you to tip your company in to Bill Express didn't they Mr Di Donato?""You have no idea of the environment, the pressure at that time," said Di Donato. "They said there was a big shareholder, someone from New Zealand, who was insisting. They would ring all the time, even when I was at dinner with my family," said Di Donato."And you agreed to tip in your company, that you say you paid for and built, for basically nothing?" asked Bick."No, that's not correct."Di Donato was warned about the consequences of lying to the court and the laws of perjury. He was asked and agreed to bring more financial documents to court the next day, relating to his companies. One of Di Donato's companies, Technology Business Systems (TBS), is alleged to have played a key role in channelling money and debt around the whole group.TBS is also in liquidation, with hundreds of former employees left out of pocket. When advisors PPB were appointed administrators for Bill Express and then liquidators, they separated the hundreds of TBS staff who ran Bill Express from the dozen or so staff who actually worked for Bill Express itself and, according to Di Donato, told the TBS staff: "I can't talk to you, you are not employees of Bill Express, you are not my responsibility."Di Donato said he had no knowledge about whether financial accounts had ever been prepared for TBS.Previously he