Long road ahead: Kleenmaid director Andrew Young. Photo: Glenn Hunt
THE high-profile lawyer representing Kleenmaid directors Andrew and Bradley Young expects the brothers' fraud and insolvent trading trial to be a ''long, arduous, drawn-out procedure''.
Following an exhaustive investigation lasting almost three years, the Youngs and Kleenmaid co-director Gary Armstrong faced Maroochydore Magistrates Court for the first time yesterday.
Each man has been charged with 20 fraud and insolvent trading offences relating to the $100 million collapse of the the whitegoods company in April 2009.
The Youngs have hired barrister John Rivett, who represented jailed former Queensland MP Gordon Nuttall.
Armstrong has separate legal representation, but Mr Rivett expects all three to be tried together on the Sunshine Coast.
The barrister told magistrate Wallace Ehrick that he had just taken on the case, and given the huge amount of evidence that needed to be examined, he requested the case be adjourned to June-July.
But Mr Ehrick set the next court date for May 17.
Outside court, Mr Rivett said the Youngs wanted to express their ''deep regret to their customers''. ''They did everything in their power to try and save it from this situation,'' he said.
''They are suffering too. They've both gone bankrupt. They're both having to work for a living.
''This will be a long, arduous, drawn-out procedure, no doubt.''
Each defendant has been charged with two counts of fraud and 18 charges of insolvent trading. No pleas were entered and the men were granted bail.
Thousands of creditors - including former employees, customers, suppliers and banks - were burnt when Kleenmaid collapsed spectacularly.
SUNSHINE COAST DAILY
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