THE directors of Bryan Byrt have declared themselves bankrupt

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"THE directors of Bryan Byrt have declared themselves bankrupt with $200 each in the bank, following the auto dealership’s $70 million collapse.

Brendon and John Crowley also do not have vehicles in their own name among assets, according to bankruptcy statements obtained by The Courier-Mail.

Their creditors were potentially owed $18.7 million in John’s case and $37 million in Brendon’s situation. Much of that debt seems shared.

The Crowleys were directors of the Brisbane-based Bryan Byrt group, which started nearly 40 years ago and traded vehicles from Fords to Volkswagens at seven Queensland sites.

Bryan Byrt employed 275 staff but collapsed in early November last year owing funds to creditors from small tyre dealers to big banks ANZ and NAB.

It later emerged the dealership’s auditors had quit in October and notified the Australian Securities and Investments Commission after finding “irregularities” in accounts. John, 69, and Brendon Crowley, 43, had also called in specialist accountants over concerns about “potential fraud”, according to an administrators report.

But ANZ chased them along with Judy Crowley, who lives with John, over guarantees for loans to the dealership. ANZ won a legal ruling in March for $18.5 million.

Documents lodged with the Australian Financial Security Authority now show the three filed for bankruptcy in April, with John Shanahan of Gervase Consulting overseeing their bankruptcy as trustee.

The listed creditors for the two men include banks, credit card debts, the tax office and even auto lubricant maker Valvoline, owed $153,297.21 under personal guarantees.

The documents and property records show John and Judy Crowley have rented a property in Clontarf, north of Brisbane, and sold their home in Raby Bay, east of Brisbane, for $1.8 million in March, having paid $2.8 million in February 2008. Brendon Crowley is listed as living at an address in Thornlands, east of Brisbane, which he does not own.

John Crowley also owned an apartment on Whitsunday’s tourist spot Hamilton Island, which he estimated could be sold for $800,000. Brendon also wrote he was director of a trustee for a trust that owned a commercial property used by Bryan Byrt. He estimated its resale value as $11 million – it sold days later for $9.14 million, according to property records.

They appear to have few assets other than superannuation.

Attempts to obtain comments from the Crowleys were unsuccessful. ASIC, ANZ and NAB declined to comment."
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