4 Corners 29 Jun 2020 Aviation
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4 Corners 29 Jun 2020 Aviation
Seeing a few tasters for tonight’s 4 corners which seems to be mostly about Virgin with a little of Qantas and politics chucked in. From what I can see so far it looks like the Chairperson tries to throw one JB under the bus. As much as JB cops heat for where VA ended up, it is the Board who ‘control’ the CEO and the company. I for one have always thought much more scrutiny should have been placed on the board for where VA ended up. So far from what I have read about the story tonight a lot of people are going to come out not looking so flash but the buck stops at the top (Or it should anyway) and you begin to see in this story where it fell apart.
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ex ABC- Four Corners:Top bosses at Virgin Australia give insiders' account of .......
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The board has to collectively accept responsibility for this cluster f**k - COVID was just the final straw, not the original cause. That can be laid fairly and squarely at the former CEO and the board.
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For whatever reason the board seemed to have escaped scrutiny, perhaps this will lay bare some facts about what’s really gone on at the top. Borghetti’s Vs Scurrah’s plans have been vastly different yet have presumably received approval from the board in both cases, talk about having an each way bet.
Rumour on the legal street is that the Board and Scurrah are being lined up over the November bond raising for misleading and deceptive conduct over the financial representations they made to investors. The real situation of the accounts was not properly disclosed. Watch this space...
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Any recent board transactions can be examined and dealt with. There may be criminal or civil liability implications. It seems the time period from November to April would fit within the context of "recent" transactions.
In fairness though, no one could have predicted COVID, which was the final issue that drove VAH into administration.
Time will tell if there are aspects that would otherwise attract the interest of the regulator.
In fairness though, no one could have predicted COVID, which was the final issue that drove VAH into administration.
Time will tell if there are aspects that would otherwise attract the interest of the regulator.
Rumour on the legal street is that the Board and Scurrah are being lined up over the November bond raising for misleading and deceptive conduct over the financial representations they made to investors. The real situation of the accounts was not properly disclosed. Watch this space...
What I would like to see is the business case and Board minutes for the acquisition and debt raising. Even with optimistic growth of Velocity the deal had at best a 5 year payback period, likely longer. Most importantly, the debt tanked net equity into the red. Debts exceeded assets by over $100 million and that didn't include the AASB 16 treatment of leases. By trashing the business's net equity it removed any resilience to shocks that the business had. EB is the chair at IAG; if she doesn't understand business risk I don't know who on that Board would.
I don't believe the "board" were being paid millions to build their own mini qantas whilst running the airline into a dodgy financial position with more smoke and mirrors than a David Copperfield show ("we're not making profit but we have plenty of cash" wait a minute..........)
The buck has to stop somewhere and it might as well be with the one that got paid the most
The buck has to stop somewhere and it might as well be with the one that got paid the most
A less impressive group of individuals would be hard to find. Lizzy seriously has the charisma of a garden gnome. The “it’s not my fault” attitude has been the village idiots modus operandi for years.
