The evidence before the court established that:
Section 254 of the ITAA imposes obligations on agents and trustees concerning income, profit or gains of a capital nature.
Application of the section extends to liquidators, receivers and administrators by virtue of the extended definition given to the term "trustee" in section 6(1) of the ITAA.
Section 254 provides that agents and trustees are:
In Saraceni v Mentha [No.2] [2012] WASC 336 a director sought to challenge the appointment of receivers to Westgem Investments Pty Ltd ("Westgem") under a fixed and floating charge ("the Charge"). In 2008 Westgem entered into a Facility Agreement with financiers and executed the Charge, which charged the "secured property".
The plaintiff contended that:
It is well established that if a trustee company goes into liquidation then:
Although section 443A(1) of the Corporations Act ("the Act") provides that Administrators are liable for the debts they incur in the performance of their functions as Administrators, a recent Western Australian judgment discusses how orders under section 447A of the Act can limit that liability.
In that case the Administrators needed funds to pay operating costs and wages, in order to maintain the business for sale as a going concern and/or to give the Administrators time to investigate alternative restructuring options.