A Canberra-based indigenous housing organisation has been put into administration amid chaotic accounting and spiralling debt.
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An investigation into the Southside Housing Aboriginal Corporation found glaring financial irregularities within the organisation, whose documents were ''either non-existent, incomplete or did not match the amount withdrawn from the corporation's bank account''.
In addition to substantial debts, investigators found the current directors of the corporation were all tenants in the properties handled by the organisation.
It is not the first time the corporation has been placed under administration, according to Frank Lo Pilato from RSM Bird Cameron. Mr Lo Pilato was appointed one of two administrators for the corporation on Wednesday, but could provide little comment on the assessment to date.
''It's early days,'' he said. ''There's limited capital. It's very tight.''
Comment was also sought from the corporation's former directors, but no response was received by time of publishing.
All directors of the corporation have been removed as of Wednesday.
Director of regulation at the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations Peter Armstrong said the examination, carried out in June, found reasonable grounds to suspect the corporation may be insolvent.
Documents signed by Mr Armstrong and obtained by The Canberra Times found the corporation could not establish its current financial position and was unsure about its tax payments, having traded without an active ABN from 2006 to 2013.
''Documentation to support payments out of the corporation's money during the examinable period was either non-existent, incomplete or did not match the amount withdrawn from the corporation's bank account,'' he said.
The examination also found the corporation ''may have given financial benefits to related parties without following due process'', and that reimbursements were given to directors for work undertaken without proper documentation.
As of May 21, the corporation had just $2282 in its bank account - despite the potential monthly income of the properties totalling $3200 - and outstanding bills to ACTEW totalled about $12,000. The total of rental arrears could not be determined.
Mr Armstrong said the corporation also needed to develop policies to manage ''material personal interests'' after investigators found its directors lived in four of the seven properties being managed.
''The examiners have advised me that all current directors are also tenants of the houses,'' he said.
''This means that material personal interests will arise for all directors each time they are required to conduct rent reviews or set new rent rates.''
Mr Armstrong said investigators also found the corporation did not follow due process in regards to membership and failed to provide documentation for directors' meetings, which are meant to be held quarterly, between July 2010 and February 2011, December 2011 and June 2013.