Liquidators picking over several failed stores of the fast food chain Burgertory have raised numerous concerns about potential unlawful conduct in their collapse including a suspicion that the group’s founder, Hash Tayeh, kept control of the businesses after resigning as a director – all while the business racked up nearly $1 million in unpaid staff superannuation.
Tayeh and other business partners within the Burgatory chain are also being investigated over the management of the businesses and the alleged dispersing of assets before a liquidator was appointed and could face public examinations, according to a report by liquidators Pitcher Partners.
The report was prepared in September last year after the Australian Taxation Office won orders from the Federal Court to wind up 13 entities associated with Tayeh between April and July last year.
This included 10 stores and three management entities associated with the broader Burgatory and QSR Collective businesses.
Large portions of the Burgertory chain remain in operation and unaffected by the court-ordered liquidations.
The report shows the failed companies – which included stores in Box Hill, Coburg North, Black Rock, Niddrie, Caroline Springs and Southbank – owe nearly $1 million in superannuation to staff and another $2.3 million to other creditors.
Some of the affected stores are still trading through new franchise owners, according to the report.
Liquidator Andrew Yeo said in the report that in his opinion, current and former directors had breached the Corporations Act, which he had reported to the corporate watchdog.
He noted that investigations into the companies and their management in the years before their collapse were ongoing, including whether the businesses were trading while insolvent and if the directors to the entities had breached their duties.
“In the course of the liquidation, my preliminary investigations have identified several matters that warrant further scrutiny,” Yeo said. “These include transactions involving related parties, potential breaches of directors’ duties and the disposition of the company’s assets prior to the appointment of the liquidator.
“The complex nature of these issues suggest that material information relevant to the liquidation may be held by individuals and entities who have not yet provided full disclosure.”
Tayeh, who founded the chain in 2018, stepped down as chief executive of the chain in July last year after news of the group’s debt to the Tax Office was made public. The tax debt was revealed two months after Tayeh’s business received a bomb threat.
Tayeh has also been subjected to other violent incidents in recent years, including firebombings at his house and one of the chain’s stores in Caulfield.
Responding to the ATO’s court action, Tayeh a prominent pro-Palestinian protester, said: “The reality is, I’ve been subjected to targeted attacks, politically motivated smears, and ongoing harassment, not because of any wrongdoing, but because I’ve dared to speak out against injustice.”
Tayeh has also described the tax case against him as a stitch-up, after he was hit with a director penalty notice of more than $1 million in relation to unpaid taxes, including staff superannuation.
In June last year, Tayeh posted on Instagram: “ATO vs Hash Tayeh the untold story. Since 2023, I’ve been hunted. Harassed. Firebombed. Dragged through courts. Falsely accused. And now? They’ve weaponised the ATO against me.”
In March last year, Tayeh was charged with using insulting words in public after he chanted “all Zionists are terrorists” at a rally in the Melbourne CBD in 2024. It is believed to be the first time that potential political speech had been deemed a criminal offence that breached the “insulting” law.
In December, the magistrate hearing the case told prosecutors that they must prove Tayeh had intent to insult or offend when he said the phrase – a decision that Tayeh said was a victory for free speech. Tayeh has denied the charge and the matter remains before the court.
The liquidator’s report has also suggested that Tayeh continued to have oversight of all the entities that were in liquidation despite resigning as a director from the businesses and new people being installed in 2023 under the group’s franchise model.
The liquidator said they had found evidence that indicated Tayeh continued to have control of the businesses bank accounts and provided instructions to accounts and solicitors to the businesses.
The liquidator had also not been able to locate a 2019 BWM sedan that was registered as an asset of the business. The liquidator said he had asked Tayeh for information about the sale and location of the vehicles.
“As of the date of this report, I am yet to receive a response from Mr Tayeh, QSR Collective and their legal representatives,” the report says.
The liquidator is planning to call Tayeh and other people associated with the business to public examinations in the hope that it will shed more light on the business’s affairs.
“The examination process is a critical investigative tool that will enable me to obtain information that may not otherwise be forthcoming,” Yeo said.
Yeo said he was taking steps to secure funding to continue his investigations and conduct the examination process from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and private litigation funders.
Tayeh was contacted for comment.
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Sarah Danckert is a senior reporter who specialises in investigations and corporate wrongdoing. She is a two-time Walkley Award winner, and has won six Quill Awards and two Kennedy Awards.Connect via Twitter or email.
