Serepisos pays $261,000 ACC levy

Tuesday 28th September 2010

Terry Serepisos, the backer of the Wellington Phoenix football team, forked out $261,000 in unpaid levies to the Accident Compensation after the government insurance scheme threatened to call in the liquidators.

An adviser to the football club’s owner told a media conference in Wellington a bank cheque was in the mail after it missed a $60,000 payment at the end of August in its agreement to whittle down debt which had accumulated over several years. A spokesman for ACC distributed statements confirming the payment had been made and the legal action dropped.

The missed payment was due to the “vagaries of cashflow,” David Whyte, director of accounting consultants Whyte Group told reporters. He declined to elaborate, and Phoenix communications manager John Mitchell said Whyte was only cleared to comment on the ACC arrangements.

Whyte said he had been working with ACC to try to reduce the club’s levies, saying they didn’t differentiate football from other sports, or take into account the fees paid to the Football Federation Australia. He estimated the annual fee should probably be about $150,000, which is $20,000 lower than the current levy.

ACC today filed papers at the High Court seeking to put Century City Football into liquidation, and has since withdrawn them.

Acting chief executive Keith McLea said it was “unfortunate it took the threat of legal action to achieve this payment,” and said the company has more levies due and will resort to litigation if necessary.

Serepisos hit the headlines earlier this year while fronting the local version of TV programme, The Apprentice, when media reported he owed local councils more than $2 million in unpaid rates.

Businesswire.co.nz

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