EMPIRE Rubber workers hope a Supreme Court action this Friday will force their former boss to cough up assets placed in three trust companies.
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It is not known whether John Davide Schulz, who took over the business in a blaze of publicity in December, will appear in court to hear the allegations against him.
Administrator Ken Sellars said the legal action was aimed at recouping property that had been placed in three separate trusts.
"We are hoping to achieve the three properties coming under the control of Huon Corp," he said.
With 122 redundancies planned at Huon - 108 of them at Bendigo - National Union of Workers state secretary Antony Thow said the properties were needed so the administrator could sell the business and pay accrued entitlements to workers.
The job cuts were announced on Friday, and workers went on strike when the administrator announced there was no money to pay entitlements.
"More than 600 workers have had their lives shattered by one person's actions, and it is time John Schulz took responsibility and did the right thing," Mr Thow said.
"It is an appalling state of affairs that these workers have had to head into court to try to force John Schulz to do the right thing."
The tactics Mr Schulz allegedly used when he bought Huon Corporation were revealed yesterday as the strikes at Empire Rubber, Nylex Frankston and Mills Elastomers (Dandenong) entered their fifth day.
A legal document, prepared for Friday's hearing and seen by The Advertiser, shows Mr Schulz bought the three automotive components businesses in December for $3.75 million.
However, he did not place the three properties into Huon Corporation.
Instead, three separate trusts - Huon Property Holdings Pty Ltd (Empire Rubber); Mail Property Pty Ltd (Frankston); and Liam Property Pty Ltd (Dandenong) - were formed and they leased the properties back to Huon Corporation.
The documents show the Bendigo property was bought for $4 million and leased for $297,000 per annum, while the Frankston sold for $6.75 million and Dandenong for $2.5 million.
Mr Schulz was director and sole shareholder of all four companies, while another defendant, William Robertson Hunter, was a director of Huon Corp and secretary of the other three.
Both born in the United Kingdom, Mr Schulz, 46, from Balwyn North, and 45-year-old Mr Hunter, of Glenhuntly, are two of five defendants in the legal proceeding launched by the administrators.
The other defendants are the three property trusts.
According to the statement of claim, Huon Corporation effectively paid for the Bendigo and Frankston properties, while the plaintiff also claims Mr Schulz and Mr Hunter breached their obligations as officers of a company.
Mr Thow said Mr Schulz had to be held to account for the redundancies and the lack of money to pay out workers.
"He should make good on his promise, which he has repeated to me numerous times in the past few weeks, that all workers would receive 100 cents in the dollar of their entitlements," he said.
"If John Schulz was genuine he'd hand back the assets and allow the administrators to pay these hardworking people what is rightfully theirs."