Queensland Office of Fair Trading investigating LJ Hooker Coolangatta for alleged property management trust misappropriation

Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading has appointed accountants to investigate alleged misappropriation of property management trust account funds at the LJ Hooker Coolangatta agency.

The alleged staff misappropriation is said to have taken place between August and December last year, and then noticed by the agency principals.

No one has been charged over the matter, which has led to the appointment of receivers on May 3 by financier Bankwest, which is understood to have been owed $800,000.

Having since sold the rent roll, Stefan Dopking and Quentin Olde of Taylor Woodings have since retired from the receivership.

Julie Williams, of Insolvency Turnaround Solutions in Brisbane, was appointed receiver to the agency's property management and sales trust accounts on May 23.

This week Williams posted a public notice in the Gold Coast Bulletin advising that dealings in respect of the agency's trust accounts "must now be conducted with the receiver or her duly authorised representatives".

Golden Four Coolangatta Real Estate, the company holding the LJ Hooker Coolangatta franchise, has had its franchise cancelled by LJ Hooker headquarters.

It is the third known franchise cancellation by LJH in the past year, the others being at Pymble and Surry Hills in Sydney.

It is suspected that an employee removed the funds and the company's principals tried to sort out the matter but were unable to do so, apparently because data was corrupted, liquidator Jason Bettles, of Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

"The principals had been utilising profits to top up rent payments and knew that this could not be sustained, and that is when I was appointed," he added.

Bettles said Golden Four Coolangatta Real Estate held no other assets, with nothing available to pay other creditors.