Former Clive Peeters director, Rick Hart, claims the $20 million embezzlement by Clive Peeters payroll officer Sonya Causer was the “tomahawk in the chest” which sent the company into a financial downward spiral.
“I think all of the misfortune can be traced back to the embezzlement – that was the tomahawk in the chest,” Hart told Appliance Retailer.
“If you take $20 million out of any business – it is lucky to survive even though they got it back,” Hart said.
Hart’s comments echo others in the industry would preferred to stay off the record this afternoon and who believe that it was the lack of cash flow that led to the problems associated with debt that meant that the majority of the funds recovered from the sale of the assets purchased by Sonya Causer with the embezzled money were used to recover debt.