Tuesday, April 8, 2008

The Hun on Landeryou: accurate reporting

Andrew Landeryou claims the Herald Sun is his newspaper of choice. It has certainly impressed many with its succinct and shrewd assessment of the fat flop as “a rat”.


May 5 1991
Defame claims heat up uni row


THE general secretary of the Melbourne University Student Union is suing eight students for defamation.

The Supreme Court writs are the latest twist in a six-month row between elected union office bearers, a student group and the university newspaper, Farrago.

The opposing parties in the campus battle are the student union's president, Andrew Landeryou, general secretary Keir Semmens and the Students Against Corruption (SAC).

And in a parallel row, Farrago editors claim they have been censored, harassed and received death and bomb threats.

In his writ, Mr Semmens charges eight members of SAC with defamation after they were involved in the preparation and/or distribution of several leaflets and a badge which read "Where's the money Keir?" The writs say that through the badge and leaflets "the plaintiff (Mr Semmens) has been held up to public ridicule and contempt".

SAC has called a student general meeting at the university Tuesday calling for the sacking of Mr Landeryou and Mr Semmens.

The general meeting will also deal with a motion calling for the sacking of the editors of Farrago.


July 22 1991
MP son faces ban over campus poll
S Dabkowski


THE son of a Labor organiser and member of Victoria's Upper House, Mr Bill Landeryou, faces possible expulsion from the ALP.

The ALP youth conference yesterday passed a motion to investigate the behaviour of the Melbourne University Labor Club in which Mr Andrew Landeryou is a key member. It will examine a number of charges including "physical and legal intimidation of political opponents" on campus.

The conference expressed its "grave concern" at the alleged activities of the club. It said the club's activities had alienated staff and students from the party.

The disputes committee of the ALP youth will also examine the industrial relations history of the university's union, "which has more in common with the confrontationism of the New Right".

The conference was told that included organising "strike breakers" for Trades Hall sanctioned industrial actions.

If the investigation finds that members of the Melbourne University Labor Club have contravened the party's rules and principles, they will be expelled from the party as soon as possible.


December 17 2004
Big year for the Possums
Fiona Hudson, city editor


AS post-election excitement fades at Melbourne's Clown Hall, it's time to bestow glory on the star council performers of 2004.Winners of the Possum Awards -- named in memory of those who gave their lives to make Lord Mayor John So's furry cloak – are…

Former councillor Kimberley Kitching has gone to ground after a process server appeared at Town Hall last month trying to deliver court papers related to a case involving her husband, ALP identity Andrew Landeryou.


April 19 2005
Labor rat left me bankrupt Civic star to lose her mansion
Fiona Hudson, city editor


FORMER city councillor Kimberley Kitching is bankrupt and set to lose her Parkville mansion over $3 million owed to retail tycoon Solomon Lew.

Ms Kitching blamed her financial collapse on her missing husband, Labor Party powerbroker Andrew Landeryou, who has skipped town leaving a trail of debt.

The son of former Cain government minister Bill Landeryou vanished in December and has not been seen since.

There is a warrant out for his arrest for failing to give evidence over the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union.

Ms Kitching revealed yesterday she had filed for voluntary bankruptcy ahead of a scheduled court appearance today over the debt to Mr Lew.

She now stands to lose her heritage-listed Parkville mansion -- a wedding present from her husband -- to repay her creditors.

Breaking a long-standing silence, Ms Kitching told the Herald Sun she hadn't seen her husband since December 6, and wasn't sure if she ever would again.

``My husband told me he was going to Sydney on a business trip. He has not returned. I have not seen him since,'' she wrote in a statement.

``Over the last couple of months, I have been forced to accept that my husband has gone. I have no indication of his whereabouts or whether he intends to return.

``I fully trusted my husband and accepted his word that he would meet the financial commitments he had asked and advised me to enter into.''

The $3 million debt relates to a failed company, IQ Corporation, controlled by Mr Landeryou and in which Mr Lew was a major investor.

Andrew Landeryou, his wife and his father Bill all signed documents agreeing to cover the debt.

An instalment due on December 22 wasn't paid, triggering the court battle over the funds.

Ms Kitching said in her statement that her attempts to reach a settlement with Mr Lew over the matter had failed.

Her bankruptcy trustee, Jim Downey, said apart from the debt to Mr Lew, Ms Kitching owed $600,000 to the Adelaide Bank, $35,000 to her father, and smaller amounts to about a dozen other creditors.

The Supreme Court this month heard claims that Andrew Landeryou transferred about $1 million to Hong Kong before he went missing. Liquidators believe some of the money has since been moved to Cyprus.

Ms Kitching served as a Melbourne city councillor until last year and was touted as a future mayor.


April 20 2005
Mansion door left open Hiccup in Lew-Kitching eviction case
Fiona Hudson, city editor


SOLOMON Lew could face a further court stoush before he can evict Kimberley Kitching and change the locks on her Parkville mansion.

The retail tycoon's lawyers won a court order yesterday for possession of the heritage-listed property to cover a $3 million unpaid debt.

But Ms Kitching's bankruptcy trustee raised serious concerns last night about the validity of a key document in the case.

Trustee Jim Downey said a deed Ms Kitching had signed last year, promising to hand over her home to wipe the debt, seemed ``flawed''.

He has sought urgent talks with Mr Lew's legal team, and has not ruled out seeking a court injunction to prevent a sell-off.

Mr Lew's lawyers are understood to have agreed to give 24 hours' notice in writing before selling the property.

Ms Kitching filed for bankruptcy this week and blamed her financial collapse on her missing husband, ALP powerbroker Andrew Landeryou. The son of former Cain government minister Bill Landeryou vanished in December, leaving a trail of debt.

Ms Kitching's bankruptcy documents reveal her debts include $6600 in unpaid parking fines, a $5000 mobile phone bill and $3600 in council rates.

She also owes $42,000 on her missing husband's BMW, and $21,000 to Telstra BigPond for internet services.

Mr Downey said Ms Kitching would have to turn in her passport tomorrow, although there were some circumstances under which she could retrieve it. ``But she'd need to satisfy me she wasn't off to Majorca,'' he said.

Ms Kitching is unemployed and living off contributions from her father, who is also listed as a creditor for $35,000.

The court row relates to a failed company, IQ Corporation, controlled by Andrew Landeryou and in which Mr Lew was a major investor.

After it failed, Ms Kitching signed a deed agreeing to pay Mr Lew $3 million for his shares. She has since claimed in court documents that her husband pressured her into signing the paper, and that she was anxious and depressed at the time.

Mr Downey last night questioned whether the deed was legally valid.

``Shares in a company which is in liquidation cannot be sold or transferred without the approval of a court. It is unclear as to whether such approval has been obtained,'' he said.

``I will be reviewing that agreement.''

Mr Downey said he was also investigating whether the document could be set aside under provisions in the Bankruptcy Act.

But Mr Lew's lawyers maintained last night Ms Kitching knew exactly what she was doing when she signed the document.

``Kimberley Kitching is an experienced commercial solicitor who was also a Melbourne city councillor,'' lawyer Sam Bond said in a statement.

``Ms Kitching personally purchased the relevant shares . . . but failed to make any payment for the shares. It was Ms Kitching's breach of promise which has caused (Mr Lew's company) Jordanlane to enforce its right according to law.''

OWED
Solomon Lew's company Jordanlane, $3 million

Bank of Adelaide, $608,000
BMW Finance, $42,000
Council parking fines, $6600
Melbourne City Council rates, $3600
Telstra Bigpond, $21,000
Citibank credit card, $16,100
Telstra Mobile, $5000
Her dad, $35,000
Lawyers, $30,000
Accountants, $2900
Melbourne City Council (for laptop computer), $1700


April 30 2005
Jail's just fine, Your Honour

Missing husband flies in, but avoids wife
Fiona Hudson, city editor


ARRESTED businessman Andrew Landeryou has opted for a weekend behind bars rather than face his wife or retail tycoon Solomon Lew.

Sheriff's officers apprehended the ALP powerbroker on an outstanding warrant when he stepped off a Qantas flight from Los Angeles yesterday, and delivered him to the Supreme Court.

Mr Landeryou told Justice Julie Dodds-Streeton that he wouldn't apply for bail and was content to remain in custody.

His arrest related to his failure to appear at a liquidator's hearing into the collapse of Melbourne University Student Union Inc.

Lawyers for the liquidator told the court yesterday it wasn't necessary for Mr Landeryou, son of former Cain government minister Bill, to remain in custody.

They said they were happy for him to walk free if he provided a phone number, an address and his passport -- and agreed to attend a May 5 hearing.

But Mr Landeryou, dressed in a rumpled shirt and representing himself, opted for the Melbourne Custody Centre.

His high-profile wife, former city councillor Kimberley Kitching, did not attend the hearing and stayed in her Parkville mansion all day.

She declared herself bankrupt last week, blaming her husband for a $3 million debt to retail tycoon Solomon Lew.

It is believed Mr Lew's lawyers had hoped to serve a summons on Mr Landeryou over the debt, but have been thwarted by his decision to stay in custody.

Mr Landeryou told the judge he'd never received the original liquidator's summons that triggered yesterday's arrest nor any phone calls, letters or emails about it.

He noted other people had experienced no difficulty finding him and serving legal papers on an unrelated matter.

``I became aware of the arrest warrant when I was overseas and I read it in the newspapers,'' he said.

Asked by the judge if that was the reason he returned from overseas, Mr Landeryou said ``yes''.

The judge ordered Mr Landeryou to appear before the student union liquidator's examination in the Supreme Court on May 5. She told him he could apply for his release ``at any time'' before then, should he change his mind.

Mr Landeryou's sister was in court and spoke with her brother briefly before he was taken away.

The businessman chatted with the sheriff's officers sitting either side of him in court.

Outside court, liquidator's representative Gary Bigmore, QC, said he was surprised by Mr Landeryou's decision not to seek bail. ``It seemed unusual. It's not something I had struck before,'' he said.

A Justice Department spokesman said when picked up at the airport, Mr Landeryou had co-operated without incident.

He faces no charges over any other matter.


May 2 2005
Landeryou wants out

Bid for bail follows three nights in jail
Ellen Whinnett


ARRESTED businessman Andrew Landeryou has changed his mind about remaining in custody and is seeking bail.

Mr Landeryou spent the past three nights in a cell in the Melbourne Assessment Prison in Spencer St.

He was arrested on Friday after stepping off a Qantas flight from Los Angeles.

He declined an offer of bail on Friday, despite not facing any charges and lawyers saying it was unnecessary for him to remain behind bars.

The ALP powerbroker is due to make a bail application in the Supreme Court today and has retained prominent solicitor Rob Stary to represent him.

If freed, he would probably be required to hand over his passport, supply details of his address and agree to appear in court again on Thursday.

It is believed that his father, former Cain government minister Bill Landeryou, and his sister tried to visit him in prison at the weekend.

Mr Landeryou instead spent time with legal representatives.

His wife, former high-profile Melbourne councillor Kimberley Kitching, is thought not to have tried to visit her husband since he returned to Australia.

Mr Landeryou was expected to make his bail application yesterday afternoon, and the case was scheduled to be heard by Justice Julie Dodds-Streeton.

Mr Landeryou was not required to appear at the hearing, which, in an unusual move, was going to be a closed session held at Justice Dodds-Streeton's home.

However, several media organisations, including the Herald Sun, told the court they intended to apply to be represented at the hearing.

The hearing was then re-listed to be heard in the Supreme Court today.

Mr Landeryou was arrested for failing to appear at a liquidator's hearing in December into the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union Inc.

Mr Landeryou told the court last Friday he did not know people were looking for him and he had returned to Australia as soon as he heard.

Ms Kitching filed for bankruptcy last month, blaming Mr Landeryou for her financial collapse and a $3 million debt to Solomon Lew.

The debt relates to the failed internet betting company IQ Corporation, which was controlled by Mr Landeryou and heavily backed by Mr Lew.

Lawyers seeking to serve a summons on Mr Landeryou over the debt were thwarted by his decision to remain in custody.


May 03 2005
Lock-up to luxury for Landeryou
Fiona Hudson and Michael Warner


BUSINESSMAN Andrew Landeryou swapped his jail cell for a luxury Southbank apartment yesterday after a judge ordered his release from custody.

The former Labor powerbroker emerged from the Melbourne Assessment Prison via a back entrance hours after a Supreme Court bail hearing.

He avoided a waiting media scrum and lawyers for retail tycoon Solomon Lew hoping to serve him with a writ over a $3 million debt.

Mr Landeryou was driven to a Southbank tower, where he is staying in the 29th-floor pad of a business associate.

Mr Landeryou, son of former Cain government minister Bill, had been in custody since he was arrested at Melbourne airport on Friday.

He is understood to have had no contact with his wife, former city councillor Kimberley Kitching, since his return from Los Angeles.

Ms Kitching went bankrupt last month, blaming her then-missing husband for a $3 million debt to retail giant Solomon Lew.

Mr Landeryou's arrest related to his failure to appear at a liquidator's hearing into the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union Inc.

Mr Landeryou last Friday denied in court ever receiving the summons to attend the liquidator's examination.

He told Justice Julie Dodds-Streeton he returned from overseas as soon as became aware of the arrest warrant.

Mr Landeryou could have applied for bail on Friday, but chose to stay in the lock-up over the weekend.

He was represented at yesterday's hearing by lawyer Rob Stary.

As part of yesterday's bail conditions, Justice Dodds-Streeton ordered Mr Landeryou to surrender his passport and attend a liquidator's examination in the Supreme Court on Thursday.


May 4 2005
Broke, but not silenced

`The whole story needs to be told some time, and the time is now'
Fiona Hudson, city editor


ELUSIVE businessman Andrew Landeryou broke a lengthy silence yesterday, threatening to dish out dirt on his corporate and political enemies.

The former Labor powerbroker candidly admits he is broke, homeless and a bad husband, and says his life has gone ``hideously wrong''.

``The fact is I was not a good husband in every possible way,'' he wrote yesterday on a website exploring his woes. ``I have nothing left to lose. I started with nothing. I may end with nothing.''

Mr Landeryou, 35, threatened on the site to expose untold tales about retail tycoon Solomon Lew and other high-profile figures.

Mr Landeryou said his foes had done well in ``slagging off'' against him, and he would return the favour.

``It's a fine thing about being thumped to a pulp, you can really start opening up a massive can of whup-ass,'' he said.

``Because I have copped the mother of all hidings in the press, I will be returning fire, not because it will discourage them, but to ensure the historical record includes both sides of the story.''

His wife, Kimberley Kitching, a former city councillor, declined to comment last night.

Ms Kitching filed for bankruptcy last month and is set to lose her Parkville mansion over a $3 million debt to Mr Lew.

Mr Landeryou and his father, Bill, a former Cain government minister, are also liable for the debt, which is related to the collapsed IQ Corporation.

The Labor Right figure wrote he'd received death threats from ``the charming citizens of the Left''.

He said companies he controlled, including IQ Corporation, donated money to the Labor Party.

``IQ gave money to the ALP. Yes, we will happily have it all back and believe it is highly just and fair that it be returned immediately,'' he said.

Mr Landeryou said a recent spell in the Melbourne Assessment Prison had helped loosen his tongue for the ``warts-and-all'' account of his life.

``A couple of nights at the big brick building on Spencer Street . . . has liberated my keyboard and my big mouth,'' he wrote.

Mr Landeryou left Australia last December for Costa Rica, and was arrested when he flew back into Australia last week.

The arrest related to an outstanding warrant over his failure to appear at a liquidator's hearing into collapsed Melbourne University Student Union Inc.

Mr Landeryou has claimed he never received the summons.

He chose to spend several nights behind bars before applying for bail on Monday morning.

He was released and is due in the Supreme Court tomorrow to answer questions about his involvement in the student union collapse.

Mr Landeryou said yesterday Mr Lew's investment in IQ Corporation was ``a cursed marriage from the start''.

On the website, he urged friends and enemies to contact him.

``Whether you're Solomon Lew, an unwashed anarchist, or one of my old mates from the Labor Party, drop me a line. Game on,'' he said.

``Life will never be the same and . . . my old life wasn't all that flash anyway. The whole story needs to be told some time, and the time is now.''


May 5 2005
Powerbroker faces court

BUSINESSMAN Andrew Landeryou will finally face some of his corporate accusers in a Supreme Court witness box today.

The former Labor powerbroker will answer questions in a liquidator's examination into the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union.


May 6 2005
Landeryou requests rejected
Fiona Hudson, city editor


BUSINESSMAN Andrew Landeryou marched into the offices of Solomon Lew's lawyers last night to demand they serve legal papers on him over a $3 million debt to the retail tycoon.

In a bizarre exchange, lawyer Sam Bond declined the opportunity to hand over the papers, saying he would deliver them to Mr Landeryou's solicitor.

After repeatedly demanding the documents, the former Labor powerbroker finally left the CBD offices of law firm Schetzer Brott & Appel empty-handed.

The unusual visit followed a full day in a Supreme Court witness box for Mr Landeryou.

He was answering a liquidator's questions about his links to the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union Inc.

The appearance in court was originally scheduled for last December, but he went overseas and says he did not receive the summons.

His father, Bill Landeryou, a former Cain government minister, was in court to provide support.

His wife, former city councillor Kimberley Kitching, did not attend.

Ms Kitching became bankrupt last month over the $3 million debt to Mr Lew, blaming her husband for her financial problems.

The liquidator's examination heard several companies associated with Mr Landeryou had won lucrative contracts with the student union before it collapsed.

Mr Landeryou admitted in court he had tried to conceal his involvement in the deals to protect his future political ambitions.

Mr Landeryou told Gary Bigmore, QC, counsel for the liquidator, that he was ``very coy'' and obsessed with privacy.

Mr Landeryou said he had no intention of profiting from a controversial student accommodation deal because it might harm his wife's political career with the city council.

``I never expected to benefit at all. I knew I couldn't be seen to,'' Mr Landeryou said.

Mr Bigmore told the court Mr Landeryou appeared to have helped arrange the employment of both the student union's general manager and commercial services manager soon before the deals with his companies were signed.

Mr Landeryou admitted he had told general manager John Gunn -- a former chief of staff to Lord Mayor John So -- the job was vacant.

He said he had also mentioned the commercial services role to another associate who ultimately won that job.

Mr Landeryou told the court he did not know exactly where $1.2 million collected from the sale of leases on food outlets at the university had gone.

Some of the money is believed to have been transferred to Hong Kong, some to Cyprus, and some to a bank account in Melbourne.

Mr Landeryou shrugged off allegations that he had forged signatures, including his brother-in-law's, on important documents.

The liquidator's hearing was adjourned until May 25


May 7 2005
Landeryou meets wife in secret
Fiona Hudson, city editor


RUNAWAY husband Andrew Landeryou has finally fronted the spurned wife he left bankrupt and owing $3 million to retail tycoon Solomon Lew.

Mr Landeryou and former city councillor Kimberley Kitching met secretly in a city park yesterday for a brief ``access visit'' with his dog.

The meeting was their first since Mr Landeryou returned to Australia after vanishing overseas for five months without telling his wife.

It came a day after the Labor powerbroker made a long-awaited appearance in the Supreme Court for a grilling by a liquidator.

Mr Landeryou later wrote on his website that facing a top Queen's Counsel the previous day in court was nothing compared with meeting his wife.

The meeting was arranged after a ``complex series of negotiations via intermediaries'', Mr Landeryou said.

``I don't want to talk about Kimberley . . . because I think I owe her a lot more dignity than that, but I couldn't help but notice there was no wedding ring any more.''

Mr Landeryou said he ``didn't let my tears show''.

The couple talked mostly about Mr Landeryou's dog.

Ms Kitching would not comment yesterday, but is understood to have defied her legal advisers to have the meeting in the Domain Gardens.

Mr Landeryou flew back to Australia a week ago and was arrested on an outstanding warrant at Melbourne Airport. He opted to stay in jail for several nights rather than seek immediate release.

Mr Landeryou is now staying at a friend's Southbank apartment, while Ms Kitching remains in her heritage-listed Parkville mansion.

She faces likely eviction over an unpaid $3 million debt to Mr Lew.


May 16 2005
Factions named Party fight denied
Ellen Whinnett


KEY players in the sacking of a suburban community centre's management committee have denied festering ALP faction fighting is behind the unrest.

The suggestion that factions could be at play was raised yesterday by controversial businessman and former ALP activist Andrew Landeryou on his website.

Mr Landeryou, who is facing court scrutiny over the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union, mused on his blog-site that there was a ``possible interplay of factional tensions''.

Brimbank City Council last week moved to sack the Westvale Community Centre volunteer management committee after claims of poor governance and the discovery of pornography on one of the centre's computers.

The committee members say they have become a target for blowing the whistle on porn and have promised to fight the move.

All nine Brimbank councillors are ALP members, as is the soon-to-be-ousted chairman of the committee, and the treasurer.

The IT consultant who discovered the porn has also emerged as a well-known Labor activist.

But the people involved in the suburban drama say the bitter row has nothing to do with old factional battles, which have seen some players sent shotgun cartridges in the mail.

``What a load of garbage,'' said Robert Mammarella, the committee's chairman and an electorate officer to local Labor MHR Bob Sercombe.

``It's nothing to do with factions and nothing to do with the ALP. It's all a big misunderstanding with the council.''

Mr Mammarella was one of four members of the group known as Labor Alliance who received a shotgun cartridge with his name written on it in his mailbox. At the time, Labor Alliance was doing battle with the Right-wing Labor Unity.

The committee of management at Westvale says it has been attacked by the council because the council was embarrassed about publicity over the finding of the pornography on the computer.

Brimbank Mayor Natalie Suleyman is aligned with Labor Unity.

She could not be contacted yesterday.


May 20 2005
Guards for investigator Landeryou denies threat after home visit
Ellen Whinnett


THE man investigating the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union has called in security guards to watch his house.

Liquidator Dean McVeigh now has 24-hour protection outside his suburban Melbourne home.

The guards appeared outside Mr McVeigh's home this week after photos appeared on a website being run by former ALP activist Andrew Landeryou, who has been linked to the student union collapse.

Mr Landeryou confirmed he had been at Mr McVeigh's home taking photos, but said he posed no danger to the liquidator, and described himself as being ``as threatening as the average boy scout''.

``To say that I am a threat to Dean McVeigh is just comical,'' he said.

Mr Landeryou has been in court answering questions about several deals made between the union and companies with which he is associated just before the union's collapse.

The liquidators have taken the matter to the Supreme Court of Victoria for examination.

Mr McVeigh was reluctant to comment about the situation.

``I don't need to make any comment about what Mr Landeryou is doing,'' he said. ``It is fairly obvious I have security outside my home. There are some very obvious reasons for it.''

Asked if the security presence was connected to his inquiries into the collapse of the student union, Mr McVeigh replied: ``Yes, it is.''

Mr Landeryou has been using his website to criticise Mr McVeigh and several others, including businessman Solomon Lew, who has called in a $3 million debt owed by Mr Landeryou.

Mr Landeryou set up the ``blog'' -- a personal web diary -- after spending three days in the Melbourne Assessment Prison after returning from overseas. He confirmed that he had gone to Mr McVeigh's house and photographed him behind a security door.

He said he had asked Mr McVeigh to come outside and be photographed next to Mr McVeigh's Rolls-Royce, which was parked on the street.

``He declined,'' Mr Landeryou said.

He said he wanted the photos to put on his blog to ``tell the whole story'' and flush out what Mr McVeigh's expenses were.

He claimed the security detail -- including guards being posted outside Mr McVeigh's office in Sandringham -- was costing up to $10,000 a week.

Mr Landeryou denied being a threat to the safety of Mr McVeigh.

``He's 2m tall and 200kg. I'm about a third of that,'' Mr Landeryou said. ``I'm about as threatening as your average boy scout.''

Melbourne University and the new body running the union, Melbourne University Student Union Ltd, both said that they were not involved in the matter.


June 3 2005
Ex-councillor shown the door
Fiona Hudson


RETAIL tycoon Solomon Lew finally evicted bankrupt former city councillor Kimberley Kitching from her Parkville mansion yesterday.

There to lend a hand, and the use of his ute, was former council colleague and loyal friend Kevin Chamberlin.

Ms Kitching's estranged husband, former ALP powerbroker Andrew Landeryou, didn't help.

Ms Kitching filed for voluntary bankruptcy in April, blaming her husband for a $3 million debt to retail magnate Mr Lew. The heritage-listed mansion is expected to be auctioned in early July.

Lawyers for Mr Landeryou's father Bill, a former state government minister, began legal action yesterday to fight Mr Lew's attempt to bankrupt him over the same $3 million debt.


8 June 2005
MP abused on net
Jeremy Kelly


POLICE will investigate the anonymous posting of offensive comments on the internet about a state Labor MP and his family.

Lara MP Peter Loney said yesterday the material -- since removed -- was vile, defamatory and hurtful.

Appearing on a blog hosted by Labor identity and controversial business figure Andrew Landeryou, some of the anonymously contributed remarks contained references to Mr Loney's wife. Mr Loney said he had involved the police and his lawyers.

Mr Landeryou alleged yesterday the material was posted by state and federal political staff.

But in a statement, Mr Loney said he had authorised Parliament to search his computers for evidence of their being used to make postings to the site.


July 2 2005
Towering bids expected Hundreds sneak a peek at $1.4m mansion
Kylie Hansen


THE mansion where controversial businessman Andrew Landeryou and his wife Kimberley Kitching once lived will be auctioned today.

Agents expect the five-bedroom Parkville property -- complete with cigar room and tower -- to fetch up to $1.4 million.

Morleys real estate said the sale had attracted huge crowds, with 750 people sneaking a peek at the landmark home.

Mr Landeryou, a well-known ALP figure, and his wife, a former city councillor, lived in the imposing Park Drive property until the couple parted ways in the wake of business troubles, including a $3 million debt to retail giant Solomon Lew.

Ms Kitching filed for bankruptcy in April and Mr Lew had Ms Kitching evicted from the mansion in June as part of a bid to cover the $3 million debt.

Mr Landeryou left the country for five months earlier this year amid a probe into the failed Melbourne University student union. He was arrested on his return.

The property's agents, Morleys real estate, yesterday confirmed the sale had attracted massive crowds, with up to 200 people turning up to each inspection.

``We've had amazing interest in such an old, interesting property,'' said Morleys' director Glen Morley.
Mr Morley said many people wanted to peek inside the heritage-listed property, called Wardlow, but among those there was also a healthy number of serious bidders.

``We've had some members of the original family which owned the property through and a lot of locals who know it well,'' Mr Morley said.

The Italianate house includes a grand entrance hall, formal dining, drawing room, lounge and cigar room. A timber staircase leads to a landing that used to house the servants wing but is now a small bedroom.

One flight of stairs leads to four large bedrooms; another set leads to a tower that looks across the city and bay.

Mr Morley said people were realising the value of Parkville and that the mansion was very liveable. He said the original family had owned the property from 1888 until 1979 and since then there had been three more owners.

Mr Morley said he hoped bidding would start at $1.25 million.


July 3 2005
The Keyhole
Mike Bruce and Andrea Moss

Lew's vacated mansion goes to author $1.8m

THE Parkville mansion, from which Solomon Lew evicted former Melbourne councillor and voluntary bankrupt Kimberley Kitching, smashed expectations at yesterday's mortgagee's auction by Morleys Real Estate.

The 10-room Italianate house, which includes a cigar room and servant's quarters, fetched $1.84 million against a $1.25 million expected price.

It was bought by author Frank Golding and his wife, Liz, on behalf of daughter and son-in-law Lindy and Michael Golding, London lawyers who will return to Melbourne next year.

The Supreme Court recently lifted a caveat placed on the property by Kitching's estranged husband, Andrew Landeryou. Lew claims he is owed a $3 million business debt by Kitching, Landeryou and Landeryou's father, former state cabinet minister Bill Landeryou.


July 9 2005
An auction with the lot


A BUMPER crowd turned out to watch heritage-listed Parkville mansion Wardlow (above) auctioned last Saturday by Glen Morley.

They might have been looking for fireworks from Andrew Landeryou, the controversial husband of Wardlow's vendor, Kimberley Kitching.

But also among the 500-strong crowd were a couple of detectives from Carlton police station, ready to launch a peace-keeping mission if needed.

Wardlow was sold last week for $1.84 million to help pay off a $3 million debt to business heavyweight Solomon Lew, who is holidaying in Europe.


September 4 2006
Junior Libs accused of Jewish slur Anger at secret uni tape
Ellen Whinnett, state politics reporter


THE Liberal Party is fuming over an embarrassing scandal which has erupted at one of its junior off-shoots, the Melbourne University Liberal Club.

A secretly recorded tape of a meeting is alleged to have caught some university Liberal Club officials swearing, making anti-Semitic remarks and commenting on inciting tensions between Lebanon and Israel.

A club official has been forced to resign after being accused of leaking details about the scandal, but instead of going quietly, the woman fired off an angry email accusing the club of intimidating her.

An infuriated Liberal Party hierarchy has launched an investigation and disciplinary action could be taken against some members of the MULC who are also members of the Liberal Party.

While the two organisations are separate, there are a number of connections, including:

THE club secretary accused of making anti-Semitic remarks, Brendan Rowswell, works for Federal Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella.

THE woman alleged to have secretly recorded the meeting, former club vice-president Jayde Lovell, works at Liberal Party headquarters, Melbourne.

OTHER club members -- who are not the subject of any allegations -- work for Federal MP Tony Smith and Senator Mitch Fifield, both key allies of Federal Treasurer Peter Costello.

Ms Lovell claims she was forced to resign.

The scandal threatens to damage Liberal Party relations with important allies in the Jewish community and is a serious distraction with the state election just months away.

A transcript of the secret recording, posted on a political blog run by former Melbourne University official Andrew Landeryou, reveals Mr Rowswell is allegedly heard referring to the Australasian Union of Jewish Students' Michael Gubieski, as a ``little Jewish (expletive)''.

Mr Rowswell yesterday told the Herald Sun the comments had been improperly recorded and it was ``offensive, insulting and untrue'' to claim he was anti-Semitic.

``During a bitter, private discussion of factional university politics, where gratuitous comments were traded, I used crude language,'' Mr Rowswell said.

``It was not religiously motivated and I have apologised and my apology has been accepted by the person involved.''

Mr Rowswell said he was a strong supporter of Israel and was a member of two Jewish student organisations.

``What is offensive is that the notion of anti-Semitic inferences has been used in a partisan political way designed for no other purpose than to score an internecine political point,'' he said.

Club treasurer Courtney Dixon is alleged to have commented that the returning officer would boot out any ticket that incited tension over Israel and Lebanon and that ``we should incite something.''

Mr Dixon agreed yesterday he was the voice on the tape but would not answer any specific questions, saying he was busy.

Liberal Club president Andrew Campbell is alleged to have said at the meeting: ``We're not gonna go out and attack Jews -- just Gubieski.''

Mr Campbell's only comment yesterday was that he would have to check whether it was his voice on the tape.

The row centres on the Uni of Melbourne Student Union elections, which begin today.

Previously, the Union of Jewish Students and the Liberal Club were allies but fell out this year.

Mr Gubieski confirmed he was the person referred to in Mr Rowswell's comments.

``All I can say is that it is obviously very disappointing but I trust the Liberal Party will know how to take care of it,'' he said.

``I do believe I have been vilified but I am more concerned about the cultural problems at the Liberal Club.''

Liberal Party state director Julian Sheezel, who is Jewish, said an investigation had been launched.

``If those remarks are correct, then I am appalled and disgusted,'' he said.


May 26 2007
What price a mansion?
Nicole Lindsay and Ben Butler


TODAY'S auction of a three-level, four-bedroom, three-kitchen mansion on a big corner block in Parkville presents agent Tom Roberts of Nelson Alexander with a problem.

Mansions on Parkville's premium strip, Park Drive, don't come up often, so they are hard to value.

The most recent Park Drive one to go off at auction was heritage-listed Wardlow, home of failed businessman Andrew Landeryou and his wife, former City of Melbourne councillor Kimberly Kitching.

Rag trader Solomon Lew took back Wardlow two years ago over a $3 million debt and promptly auctioned it for $1.84 million.

Nearby, a 5000sq m package of land with a Victorian mansion was put up for sale by theological school Ridley College in November, but it is still on the market.

Ridley College business manager Darren Waterworth says a buyer was interested at about $7 million, but backed away.

Heritage-listed Royal Pde mansion Auld Reekie, passed in at $5 million last July, is in far better nick than the property on Park Drive that Roberts is auctioning today. The Park Drive pile has no heritage listing and has not been renovated.

It has been in the same family since 1918 and retains original architectural details, including hallway scrollwork, pressed-metal ceilings and wrought-iron lacework.

Roberts at first quoted $1.1 million plus, but after strong interest since listing he has increased his estimate to $1.2 million-plus, with a price of up to $1.4 million likely.

The auction is at noon.


August 24 2007
Green's sex swap hubby
Carly Crawford and Ellen Whinnett


GREENS candidate for Williamstown Janet Rice has told of her husband's decision to become a woman.
Cr Rice last night confirmed her partner's male-to-female gender transition after 17 years of marriage.
Cr Rice, endorsed by the Greens to contest ex-premier Steve Bracks' bayside seat, told the Herald Sun her husband, Peter Whetton, became Penelope four years ago.

``It was certainly challenging because we were happily married, but we are still happily married,'' she said.

``It's certainly been a big thing for us to go through but we got through it.

``Yes, we're still happily married, yes, we still love each other.''

A blog maintained by notorious Labor Party member Andrew Landeryou, son of former state MP Bill Landeryou, first published references to the situation several weeks ago when Cr Rice was endorsed by the Greens.

Cr Rice, a former Maribyrnong mayor, accepts that her run at Spring St has generated interest in her private life.

``That said, the main game is that I'm standing for parliament.

``I have a partner who is transgender and we're not hiding that but the main game is who I am.''

The couple's teenage sons, John and Leon, were ``very accepting'' of their dad's change, which she says has had little impact on her political fortunes.

``People know and it hasn't been an issue,'' Cr Rice said.

``We haven't hidden it at all and it's not an issue to people. The kids' footy club, they accept it.

``Maribyrnong is a fantastic place to live in accepting diversity and accepting that everyone is different.''

The Greens are extremely supportive of lesbian, homosexual, transgender and bisexual people and have specific policies aimed at firming up their rights in areas such as recognition of their relationships and financial security.

Ms Rice would not say whether Dr Whetton had undergone gender reassignment surgery.

``She socially transitioned four years ago but other than that, it's our private life.

``As far as the world is concerned, Peter became Penny four years ago. It's my private life.''

Cr Rice, who has taken leave from Maribyrnong Council while she campaigns, believes she will poll well at the September 15 by-election.

``I think there's an outside chance that I could win. I think it's a possibility because I think there's no such thing as a safe Labor seat any more.

``The Greens coming within a whisker of winning Melbourne at the last state election showed that to be the case.

``If I don't win, it will turn the seat into a Greens-Labor marginal so it will get the Labor Party to start paying attention.

``People want more than just nice words from the Labor Party, they want action.''

A keen cyclist, she describes transport as an ``absolute passion'' and wants Melbourne's outer suburbs better serviced by public transport.

Cr Rice has been a strong political performer for the Greens for many years.

She studied meteorology at university and entered politics in 1997 when she unsuccessfully ran for council twice before being elected in 2003.

Dr Whetton is a climate change researcher with the CSIRO. She has led its climate impact and risk research team since 2005.


November 15 2007
'Dirty' war of old and new Labor
Roger Franklin


EVEN beneath the white hair, and with his 60th birthday just weeks away, it takes only a glance to pick Gavan O'Connor for a man who was always going to put up a fight.

The federal member for Corio and Opposition spokesman on agriculture isn't tall, but he is barrel-chested, and when he plants his feet the stance is wide and the weight is on his toes, as if the martial arts aficionado might erupt and deliver a whirling, round-house kick.

And that, in a sense, is what he did two weeks ago when, to the dismay of his enemies in the Corio branch of the ALP, he announced he had no intention of handing over the seat he has held since 1993 to Richard Marles, 42, the ACTU lawyer he accuses of branch-stacking his way to preselection.

It was a moment the local political machine had been dreading -- a popular and well-known Labor identity going at it tooth and claw with a representative of what Marles himself terms ``the party's new generation''.

And now, quite literally, it is on for young and old. No manure spreader could fling the volume of dirt that is splattering about the shores of Corio Bay.

``Dirty?'' O'Connor said recently in the conference room of his office on Yarra St.

``Yes, it will be dirty -- I can't imagine it happening any other way.''

A day or two later, his would-be nemesis sipped a skinny flat white at a Ryrie St coffee shop and pointedly declined to address his opponent's alleged shortcomings.

``What I will say is that I'm very disappointed in Gavan,'' Marles said, ``and that the only winner as a result of his decision to stand as an independent is John Howard and the Liberal Party.''

Fact is, Marles has no need to be more pointed because his supporters are shovelling the muck that he won't touch, and they are moving it in industrial quantities.

Log on to the internet and visit The Other Cheek, the blog of gadfly and Marles supporter Andrew Landeryou, and you soon get an idea of what is being said in parts of the town where politics is viewed as a contact sport.

In post after post, there are aspersions on O'Connor's private life, charges he is abusing his MP mail allowance and, well, let's just say the list of alleged shortcomings and character flaws is ugly and growing longer by the day.

The vitriol is a matter of electoral mathematics.

O'Connor held Corio at the last election by about 6 per cent -- a comfortable margin in a two-horse race but, now that he is running as one of three contenders, it may well be preferences that decide who goes to Canberra.

If O'Connor gives his preferences to Liberal candidate Angelo Kakouros and the favour is returned, Marles's hopes could be dashed.

One of his supporters explains it thus: ``Say that O'Connor scores just under 30 per cent of the vote and actually outpolls Kakouros by a few points.

``Well, if the Liberal's preferences don't leak, then O'Connor is home.''

There are a lot of ``ifs'' in that scenario -- voters in Geelong, a strong union town, might not follow O'Connor's instructions.

It's entirely conceivable that affection for the incumbent might see a solid segment of the electorate make him their first pick, but then revert to the party line and award second preferences to Marles.

Ask just how and where he plans to direct his preferences and O'Connor, who is nobody's idea of shy, suddenly goes coy.

``My preferences? I'll decide that at the appropriate time,'' he promised.

About his opponent, the ``chicanery'' that stripped him of preselection and his willingness to embarrass ``old friend'' Kevin Rudd, he is anything but reticent.

``I have been urged to stay in this race by people who care about Geelong and who understand that this town needs an independent to clean it up,'' he said.

``In Geelong, what has been going on has an eerie resemblance to the circumstances on the Gold Coast, which became the subject of an intervention by the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission and led to charges against a number of councillors.''

Given the way these things work, a tactful silence could have bought O'Connor a very nice retirement if Labor were to win government.

A comfy ambassadorship, an appointment to a panel or two, a low-stress junket -- that's how the system works.

But O'Connor -- the farmer's son still remembered around Colac, where he grew up, as the guitarist in the Recliner Rockers, allegedly the town's best-ever party band -- wasn't interested.

``Yeah, I could have walked away, accepted the fact that I was denied preselection and gone the golfing route,'' he began. ``I'm 59 years old and I've been in Parliament for 14 years, so I could easily have swallowed what happened without making waves.

``I have built a life outside politics. But I couldn't just take what happened in silence and, if you want a reason, well, one factor is the way I was raised: I don't get into a fight unless I'm committed to winning it, and I genuinely believe I can win this one.''

So does Marles, who reckons he has knocked on at least 10,000 doors since winning preselection.

His agenda is big-picture stuff, based on his conviction that suburban sprawl will eventually encircle all of Port Phillip Bay, making Geelong just one part of a megalopolis with Melbourne at its centre.

If his hometown isn't to be swallowed by development, he says a coherent industrial policy is needed to preserve local manufacturing jobs.

``It's been a bittersweet year,'' Marles said. ``The Cats won the flag, and that was terrific, something I wondered if I'd ever see in my lifetime.

``But we also had lots of bad news about lost jobs, starting with the 600 layoffs at Ford.

``We're at a crossroads, and we have to take the right path to preserve what we have down here -- the lifestyle and the character of the place, the viability of our industries -- and that's my priority, starting with a more activist industrial policy.''

By contrast, O'Connor's strategy embodies the age-old wisdom that all politics is local. When supporters talk about their town, words such as ``slush fund'', ``corruption'' and ``secret deals'' flow in torrents.

It's the sort of stuff that reads like the platform of a reform candidate aiming for a council seat, not a perch in Canberra -- and it prompts the Marles camp to pose a simple question: if O'Connor knew or suspected what he says is going on, why didn't he do something about it sooner?

His response is simple. As membership of the Corio ALP soared by more than 500 per cent -- branch stacking, by O'Connor's reckoning -- he put his energies into helping his party end 11 years in the wilderness and move off the Opposition benches.

``My first goal was always to get my party elected,'' he said. ``In power you can make things happen.''

Today, as he faces his toughest fight, that goal hasn't changed -- it's just that these days O'Connor belongs to a party of one.

Friday, April 4, 2008

The fat flop in the Fin

Andrew Landeryou first came to the attention of The Australian Financial Review as a defender of Solomon Lew, along with his MP mate Michael Danby (and a bunch of heavies from the Labor Right). Then the paper did a little puff piece on IQ Corporation.

Reality soon dawned. The IQ collapse, Landeryou’s scarper off overseas, the humiliation of his wife and all the legal argy-bargy involved (not to mention MUSU) got a great run. The ongoing saga continues to provide amusement for the readers of the nation’s business daily, along with reports of Landeryou’s current life “posting reams of borderline defamatory rants… with little more than the weak glow of a computer screen for company”.


November 20 1996
Gag was no joke as Lew debate rolled on

Neil Chenoweth and Andrew Main

Early on, it became clear that Coles Myer's chairman, Nobby Clark, was having difficulty keeping to the script.

"It's happening again; the prompt's got way ahead of me," Clark complained in despair halfway through yesterday's seven-hour annual meeting. But the prompt operator wasn't the only one tinkering with the story-line.

Much of the Coles Myer board believed there had been an agreement to give shareholders free rein for comment, with no stooges and no gag motions - which made it a bit of a puzzle when Michael Danby, a Victorian Labor stalwart and an ally of Solomon Lew, stood up and proposed a gag motion about an hour into discussing Lew's re-election.

Danby's move appeared to take Clark off balance - so much so that he waved through the motion on a rather dubious assessment of the voices, refused to take points of order, then claimed incorrectly that there had been a show of hands.

It was a massively unpopular decision, and doubly unfortunate because the queue of people who had been standing in line for an hour to discuss Lew continued their comments regardless with the next motion. And there were a lot of motions.

Lew wasn't without friends, one of them a young woman who identified herself as Sharon Alexander. This modest description did not actually convey that she is an employee of Beverley Pinder Public Relations, the PR shop that until recently worked on a retainer defending Lew against shareholder activist types.

Lew would have been warmed by the likes of former MP John Brown, who raged against character assassination by a "particularly mendacious media" on one of the finest human beings he knew. This also would have warmed Brown's NSW Right friend Michael Easson, who ran the "Re-elect Solly" ticket.

Links with the Labor Party (as opposed to Coles Myer employees, some of whom picketed the meeting) were a distinct feature of the pro-Lew camp. There was Kevin Boyd, of the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Union. And Andrew Landeryou, son of former Storeman and Packer secretary and Victorian Labor Minister Bill Landeryou, who besides supporting Lew launched an attack on CML director Nick Greiner.

Michael Davis, believed to be a Melbourne lawyer but thought by some to be Max Gillies having a lend, told the board graciously to ignore the whiners: "The small shareholders hate you because you are successful and they are not."

And a Mr Gonzales, whose view of events seemed at times remarkably close to the Lew camp's, blamed it all on the despicable media.

"Maybe they see Mr Lew as a threat to them: the Fairfaxes, the Murdochs are afraid he will take over their empire," he said brightly. Now that would really do something to his gearing.
"It's not known to management here today," Clark told several questioners who asked about an earlier claim that a court injunction had been taken out to stop a unionist shareholder from attending.

Clark's response seemed highly probable, but in the last year, those words have become almost a management mantra for Coles Myer - like a Latin verb declension: "Today I have no knowledge, last year I had no knowledge, next year I will have had no knowledge."

After yesterday's meeting, Coles Myer shareholders don't have any significant knowledge either, on some of the biggest problem areas for the company in the last year.


November 22 1996
Rear Window
Edited by Andrew Main


Sol’s supporters

The jigsaw puzzle of identifying the few pro-Solomon Lew speakers at Tuesday's Coles Myer annual meeting has yielded more fascinating coincidences.

You may remember that Michael Easson, the former New South Wales right pollie, had been public in helping Lew with re-election.

Easson's old pal John Brown kicked off with a strong message of support, followed not long after by Sharon Alexander. She had told the AFR she was employed by Beverley Pinder Public Relations, which has done work for Lew, but Beverley Pinder rang to say they had parted company about three weeks ago. What we do know is that Sharon Alexander is the niece of Mary Easson, nee Alexander, Michael Easson's wife.

And what of Michael Davis, who was mistaken for Max Gillies? He changed his name from Michael Boggs, and who can blame him for that? He is involved in investment in Queensland ... and is an old friend of the Eassons.

For the record

Andrew Landeryou, the man who left Lew alone but questioned Nick Greiner's record something horrid, is a horse of a slightly different colour.

He is part of an Internet e-mail-based discussion group on Coles Myer in conjunction with one Gerry Pauley who has stopped giving investment advice on his web site after the Australian Securities Commission suggested he should first obtain a licence.

Landeryou's big moment came back in 1991 when a group of left-wing student types at the University of Melbourne ousted him as president of the student union after a dispute over alleged issues of mismanagement and overcrowding.

Landeryou, son of the former Storemen and Packers Union heavyweight and Cain Government minister Bill Landeryou, later told The Age newspaper the allegations were untrue, and that they had been made by "people from the ultra-left who are just tapping into a popular theme".


February 25 2000
Rear Window
Edited by Christine Lacy


Solly whacks down $4m for IQ Corp

Goodness gracious. An internet company that's actually making some money.

Melbourne-based online sports content group IQ Corporation has $8 million in the kitty after a fundraising, of which Melbourne businessman Solly Lew stumped up $4 million.

IQ, which is in the business of providing sports statistics, is understood to be actually trading in the black, unlike most other outfits in the sector.

A quick trawl of the ASIC database shows that a director of the Lew group's Century Plaza Investments, Michael McLeod, joined the IQ board last week.

IQ's managing director is Andrew Landeryou, who presumably is the same cove who spoke up in support of Lew during the action-packed marathon Coles Myer annual meeting of late 1996, where Lew survived moves to oust him from the board.

With $4 million spent from his very large war chest of $700 million-plus, there's still plenty of financial firepower in the Lew camp. Rumours abound about possible further moves into the traditional retail sector but there's apparently not much on the horizon in online retailing.


December 1 2003
Lew seeks funds from ex - friend for IQ deficit
Miranda McLachlan


Solomon Lew, the former Coles Myer chairman, has been fighting a bitter court battle to find out what happened to $4 million he pumped into an internet gambling start-up at the height of the frenzy for high-tech companies.

Mr Lew secured a victory last week when the Federal Court ordered the wind-up of IQ Corporation, which raised $8 million, half of which came from Mr Lew, in 2000 just ahead of the tech crash.

Mr Lew's lawyers said in their submissions that their client's money had disappeared and they wanted a liquidator to find out where it went and ascertain the state of the company's affairs: ``IQ's assets [including the $4 million invested in it by the applicant] have vanished.''

The liquidation is Mr Lew's second legal bid to get information from Andrew Landeryou, the 50 per cent owner of IQ. A longtime ALP activist, Mr Landeryou backed Mr Lew in some of his worst battles on the Coles Myer board in 1996.

Mr Lew earlier obtained a court order asking Mr Landeryou to hand over the IQ files, but Mr Landeryou claimed that they had been taken by the landlord when IQ was evicted from its offices.

``The financial records of IQ were, in part, retained by the landlord when IQ was evicted from its premises,'' he said in an affidavit lodged with the court.

Mr Landeryou, along with his wife and former IQ company secretary, Kimberley Kitching, left the IQ board in 2001, while his father Bill Landeryou, a former Cain government minister, is still a director, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission records.

No one appeared on behalf of IQ or Mr Landeryou in court on Thursday. He did not return calls from The Australian Financial Review to him through his lawyers, Rigby Cooke.

Mr Landeryou was ordered to pay costs. Mr Lew's application was made through one of his companies, Jordanlane.

Mr Landeryou intervened in proceedings in October to oppose the wind-up order. He claimed that the company started by selling sports statistics on-line before moving into online gambling in Tasmania and the United Kingdom, where the company was believed to have opened an office.

Mr Landeryou said IQ's ``two major assets'' were the gaming licence he claimed IQ subsidiary Betworks secured from the Tasmanian government and ``tax losses of $8 million that IQ had accumulated over time and may be of some benefit for the future operation of IQ'', according to his affidavit lodged with the court.

Mr Landeryou claimed that the gaming licence, which he said had been granted by the Tasmanian Gaming Commission, would ``not continue if a liquidator of any nature is appointed to IQ''.

But in their submissions on November 26, Mr Lew's lawyers said Mr Landeryou had applied for IQ's gaming subsidiary, Betworks, to be deregistered in May.

Mr Lew's lawyers said in their submissions that no licence was ever granted.

The licence, allegedly granted to the now-deregistered Betworks, was non-transferable: ``IQ was not able to ensure or bring about the activation of the TGC gaming licence,'' they said.


March 24 2005
Lew targets adversary's home
Nicole Lindsay and Katherine Towers


Last year was a bad one for former City of Melbourne councillor Kimberley Kitching. This year has the potential to be much worse.

A scandal involving powerful businessman Solomon Lew brought her successful political career in Melbourne politics to a halt. And her husband, Andrew Landeryou, skipped town after a warrant was issued for his arrest over a property deal that brought down the Melbourne University Student Union.

Now, the 35-year-old is facing a courtroom duel with Mr Lew, an experienced litigator, and looks set to lose her million-dollar home in Melbourne's Parkville.

The stellar political career of Ms Kitching began to dim in 2003 when her and her husband's online betting venture, IQ Corp, was placed into liquidation by Mr Lew.

Mr Lew, through his private company Jordanlane, invested $4 million in IQ in 2000 just before the tech crash and, after its collapse, complained that his money had disappeared without trace.

"IQ's assets [including the $4 million invested in it by Mr Lew] have vanished," his lawyers told the court in a winding-up action.

According to documents filed in the Supreme Court, Ms Kitching, her husband Andrew, and father-in-law and former Cain government minister Bill Landeryou entered into an agreement with Mr Lew.

Ms Kitching agreed to buy all Jordanlane's 28,600 shares in IQ for $3 million $2 million to be paid by December 22, 2004, and instalments of $500,000 on September 1 in 2005 and 2006.

Her house was put up as security and, according to the documents, if Ms Kitching "failed to comply . . . the whole of the debt then outstanding would become immediately due and payable to Jordanlane together with interest on the outstanding sum".

Andrew Landeryou has yet to be served in the proceeding but his father has been ordered to pay $3 million, plus interest.

Ms Kitching failed to meet the December 22 deadline and a caveat was placed over the property, which was converted into a mortgage to Jordanlane.

Ms Kitching still lives in the house, but Mr Lew wants possession for sale.

That case against Ms Kitching has been adjourned until late April after her lawyers, Baker & McKenzie, withdrew last week citing a potential conflict of interest.

Ms Kitching, who sits on what has become a well-worn path for female politicians the Victorian board of the Young Women's Christian Association, was once touted as a potential mayor.

She withdrew from last year's council elections amid the scandal surrounding her husband's business dealings with Mr Lew and the separate furore over the $46 million collapse of the Melbourne University Students Union.

The union was also the scene of Mr Landeryou's first public dressing-down in 1991 when he was sacked after allegations of mismanagement.

Mr Landeryou is required to appear in a case involving the collapse of the union, which allegedly lost huge sums of money in deals involving student leaders and their Labor Party friends.

Ms Kitching, a lawyer, entered the local government scene in 1999. Mr Landeryou acted as her campaign manager and she finally won a spot at the 2001 election, quickly gaining leadership of Melbourne Council's arts committee.

She is described by colleagues as sharp and intelligent, but eyebrows were raised by associates over how seldom her husband accompanied her to council social functions.It is not known if he will be with her in court against Mr Lew.


April 20 2005
PacHydro: funds take a risk
John Durie


Solomon Lew had reason to be happy as he drove away from Melbourne's Crown Casino in his Bentley yesterday, having won a court case giving him control of a $2 million-plus Parkville mansion to settle some liabilities with Andrew Landeryou, the estranged husband of Kimberley Kitching.

Sharing his good humour was former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission boss Allan Fels, who hitched a ride back to his Melbourne University office with the aforementioned Lew.

The two men had attended an Australia Israeli Chamber of Commerce lunch addressed by St George Bank boss Gail Kelly.

Her speech was on the importance of hiring and looking after people, customers and management, which she said was the secret of her success at the bank.

Fels couldn't resist the opportunity and asked Kelly the importance of scale in banking, to which the reply was along the lines that in her CBA days she thought size was crucial, but now realised it wasn't the key to banking success.


April 20 2005
Lew wins legal fight
Nicole Lindsay


Former Melbourne City councillor Kimberley Kitching lost her $2 million home in prestigious Parkville yesterday in the fallout from a legal fight with businessman Solomon Lew.

Mr Lew took possession of the double-storey mansion as part of a long-running dispute over a high-tech investment that went wrong.

The Victorian Supreme Court issued the order yesterday but stayed Mr Lew's moves to fully recover a $3 million debt from Ms Kitching because she had filed for bankruptcy last Friday.

Mr Lew's company, Jordanlane, invested $4 million in a high-tech start-up firm, IQ Corporation, founded by Ms Kitching's husband, Andrew Landeryou, in 1999. Ms Kitching was a director and company secretary of the company between 1999 and 2001.

After liquidation hearings last year, Ms Kitching agreed to buy Jordanlane's shares in IQ for $3 million, which was guaranteed by her husband and his father, Bill Landeryou, and secured by a second mortgage on her house. She has never paid the money.

The court also ordered Bill Landeryou to repay the money.

Ms Kitching has blamed her failure to pay and her bankrupt state on her husband, who has fled the country. A warrant has been issued for his arrest over his part in a property deal that brought down Melbourne University's Student Union.

It was revealed yesterday that Ms Kitching also owes the Bank of Adelaide $608,000 for the first mortgage on the house, plus smaller debts totalling $165,000. According to bankruptcy documents, she owes a further $42,000 for a BMW car, $5000 to Telstra for her mobile phone, $6000 in parking fines, council rates of $3600 and $35,000 to her father, William Kitching.


April 30 2005
Landeryou returns home to face liquidator
Bill Pheasant


A Melbourne businessman who failed to appear at a liquidator's hearing into the multimillion-dollar collapse of Melbourne University's Student Union in 2003 has been arrested on his return from the United States.

Andrew Landeryou, son of former Cain government minister and union boss Bill Landeryou, told the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday he did not want a lawyer and was not seeking bail.

The sudden return of Mr Landeryou came as his wife and former Melbourne City councillor, Kimberley Kitching, filed for bankruptcy over a $3 million debt to retail magnate Solomon Lew.

On Friday, Bill Landeryou, a Labor Party heavyweight and state minister in the 1970s and 1980s, who with Andrew Landeryou was a guarantor to the mortgage over a Parkville residence, declined to comment on his son's predicament: "It would be inappropriate."

Andrew Landeryou was arrested on a warrant granted to the liquidator of MUSU, Dean McVeigh of Foremans Business Advisors, after missing the hearing in December and failing to produce documents about his dealings with student union contractor companies.

Mr McVeigh said he would seek to recover more than $2.6 million in misappropriated funds from a range of parties to contracting deals.

He has already passed on to the police details of a $1.2 million transaction involving the awarding of an on-campus bar lease via a company called Marbain.

In a short hearing, Justice Julie Dodds-Streeton asked Mr Landeryou if he had anything to say, and he replied that he had never been served with the warrants and only read about them in newspapers overseas.

Mr Landeryou said he had known from mid-2004 "that I was going to be called at some point".
He said he would be happy to attend "on whatever day is required".


May 7 2005
A businessman with juicy stories to tell
Nicole Lindsay


Old cronies should be worried about Andrew Landeryou's statements in and outside the court, writes Nicole Lindsay.

In a rambling weblog, compiled during his recent sojourn overseas, Andrew Landeryou claimed he would spill the beans on many of his old cronies if he ever got back to Australia.

"It's a fine thing about being thumped to a pulp, you can really start opening up a massive can of whup-ass," he wrote from Costa Rica.

Landeryou, who left the country abruptly last year, returned to Melbourne and this week faced a liquidator's hearing looking at his role in the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union (MUSU). He is also under pressure because he owes magnate Solomon Lew millions for a failed computer business.

But Landeryou also knows how to fight back. There are some who are concerned about the "can of whup-ass" which the well-connected son of Cain government cabinet minister Bill Landeryou might try to open up as the court cases proceed.

Until his flight, the father and son team were active as behind-the-scenes powerbrokers. At a fund-raiser last year at the Collingwood Football Club, the younger Landeryou sat at a table with Senator Stephen Conroy, Australian Workers Union secretary Bill Shorten and Victorian Premier Steve Bracks' staffer, David Feeney.

Landeryou's blog, for example, trumpets his friendship with a former political comrade from the early MUSU days in the late 1980s and early 1990s, LookSmart dotcom millionaire Evan Thornley, who has his eyes on a federal seat.

Landeryou scoffed last week at any political fall-out from his travails but the left of Victorian Labor is hoping that some mud might stick to his friends on the right.

In any case, his story will be interesting to watch.

Landeryou was well known as president of the MUSU in 1991 but was forced out after a grassroots student movement made allegations of impropriety over leasing deals of union hospitality franchises.

A series of deals that Landeryou set into play in the late 1990s after returning from a trip to Russia have now landed him in hot water.

He went into business but he continued to do hospitality and property deals with MUSU, where several officials had been Landeryou mates.

MUSU Inc went under and the liquidator is now looking at a series of deals where Landeryou-related entities received a free lease on a bar at MUSU and also won a contract for student accommodation.

Within months, the lease on the bar was sold to a third party for $1.2 million. The 20-year student housing deal created a liability for MUSU potentially worth $46 million.

The court this week heard about how Landeryou handled the deals through companies called Marbain, Optima, Institutional Services and how they ultimately related to a series of other Landeryou shelf companies, Arrowhead Media, Avonwood and Zoe's Emporium. Money was transferred to Cyprus and Hong Kong.

But that is only one of Landeryou's problems. The other battle is with "Solly" Lew.Landeryou got Lew to invest $4 million into his IQ Corporation online gaming venture back in 1999 when Lew was starting his battle for control of the Coles Myer board and looking for political mates. But the friendship went sour when Landeryou failed to account for how the money was spent and Lew put IQ into liquidation in 2003.

In a settlement struck last year, Landeryou's wife and former Melbourne City councillor, Kimberley Kitching, who was IQ's company secretary, agreed to buy Lew's shares for $3 million, secured by the house and guaranteed by both Landeryous.

Kitching says she thought her husband had gone to Sydney to raise the $3 million when he disappeared overseas.

Lew now owns her $2 million Parkville mansion but the bankrupt Kitching is still there while Lew and his lawyers work out how they are going to dispose of the mansion.

Until last week, Landeryou was overseas five months in Costa Rica, Honduras and the United States working on a new online gaming venture despite a warrant out for his arrest in Melbourne.

His return was a surprise. In the witness box at the Supreme Court this week under examination over the collapsed student union, Landeryou was meek and mild, a picture of suffering who could barely remember some of his associates and their business dealings.

Landeryou told a hearing he had kept his name out of the companies doing the deals with MUSU because of his political aspirations.

But once out of the court, he marched down William Street, the heart of Melbourne's legal district, and bailed up the receptionist at Shetzer Brott Appel, the lawyers for Lew. "I'm all pumped up," he said outside on the street.

And Landeryou is still venting his spleen on a weblog posting reams of borderline defamatory rants every few hours.

"Read the truth on my blog," he said on Thursday.

STUDENT POLITICS

Key players in the Melbourne University Student Union upheaval

Andrew Landeryou
Aspiring politician and businessman who was arrested last week after five months in Latin America.
Liquidators are looking at his role in the $40 million-plus deal he struck with the Melbourne University Student Union.


Evan Thornley
LookSmart millionaire, who got his start in student politics in the early 1990s at Melbourne Uni at same time as Landeryou. His political aspirations could be spoilt by Landeryou, who is threatening to spray all his former associates.


Kimberley Kitching
The abandoned wife of Landeryou and a former Melbourne City councillor. She lost the ownership of her Parkville mansion to businessman Solomon Lew because of her role in Landeryou's IQ Corp online gaming venture.


Solomon Lew
Lent Landeryou $4m for the online venture after getting Landeryou's public supportwhile fighting for control of Coles Myer in the early 90s. Has allowed Kitching to remain in the house.


May 25 2005
Liquidator's $4m writ on Landeryou
Nicole Lindsay


The liquidator of the Melbourne University Student Union has lodged writs in the Victorian Supreme Court demanding more than $4 million from Andrew Landeryou and a host of other executives and office bearers who worked at the union.

The move came a day before Mr Landeryou, a former MUSU president, was due back in the Supreme Court to answer questions about his business dealings with the union before its collapse in February last year under the weight of a $48 million property deal, allegedly orchestrated by Mr Landeryou.

A player in the Labor Right and a failed online gaming entrepreneur, Mr Landeryou is also liable for a $3 million debt to Melbourne businessman Solomon Lew, which cost his wife Kimberley Kitching, her Parkville home.

MUSU liquidator Dean McVeigh said he had lodged the writs in the court but was still trying to serve them on as many as eight people.

The Supreme Court has heard hours of evidence about the union's failure, including allegations of false names, forged signatures and mystery bank accounts.

Mr Landeryou said he had not yet been served with the writ but described the allegations as "bizarre and unsubstantiated".

"After two years and millions of dollars Dean McVeigh's shown his hand and he's got nothing," Mr Landeryou said. "It's a joke. I believe it will be laughed out of court."

Mr McVeigh is claiming $3.4 million from Mr Landeryou and other former MUSU presidents Ben Cass, Darren Ray and Scott Crawford, plus senior union employees Dean Sherriff and John Gunn, in damages over the alleged diversion of profit from the union bar and food outlets to Mr Landeryou and Mr Cass via a company called Marbain.

Mr McVeigh is also claiming $450,000-plus from Mr Cass, Mr Ray and former acting MUSU general-secretaries Peter Marczenko and Tim Lisle-Williams for the alleged overpayment of money triggered by the unlawful outsourcing of election functions to Global Tertiary Solutions.


May 26 2005
Landeryou in court drama
Bill Pheasant


Former Melbourne University Student Union president Andrew Landeryou could face legal action for inaccurate reporting of court proceedings against him and three former uni colleagues on his internet "blog" site.

However, further questioning of the Melbourne businessman in the Victorian Supreme Court, and several other MUSU officials, may be delayed due to a "poorly timed" $4 million claim lodged by the MUSU liquidator.

Foreman insolvency partner Dean McVeigh sued Mr Landeryou, Ben Cass, Darren Ray, Scott Crawford, Dean Sherriff and John Gunn on Tuesday, seeking up to $4 million in damages over an alleged conspiracy in 2002 to improperly siphon funds from the union.

After reading an affidavit by Mr McVeigh yesterday afternoon, Master Evans said it appeared that Mr Landeryou "has somewhat distorted what took place here this morning", with the website referring to the liquidator's "publicity stunt writ".

"I used no such words. [This is] a very misleading impression of what took place here this morning and that too can have consequences in another place," the Master said.

Mr Landeryou and another former MUSU president Ben Cass were due to be examined over documents and transactions relating to the proceeds of a $1.2 million transaction from the sale of three student union cafe leases to a company, Marbain, in 2002.

Garry Bigmore QC, for the liquidator, said despite having lodged the claim to recover funds which travelled via accounts in Hong Kong and Cyprus, he intended to continue "fishing" in examinations for what ultimately happened to the funds after the so-called "Marbain" transaction.


June 8 2005
Rear Window
Edited by Angus Grigg


Lew auctions legal winnings

Solly Lew has not wasted any-time putting the Melbourne mansion he won in a legal battle with ALP operative Andrew Landeryou up for sale.

The auction signs went up yesterday and the 10-room house in the city's university precinct is expected to fetch $1.25 million. Lew took control of the property after investing $4 million in Landeryou's failed online gaming company, IQ Corporation, in 1999.

And Landeryou has other trouble brewing. He is facing a lawsuit from the liquidator of the Melbourne University Student Union over a series of financial deals that allegedly sent it broke last year.


March 6 2006
Rear Window
Edited by Andrew Main


Court case a big inspiration for Landeryou

An interested observer at the Federal Court in Melbourne last week was disgraced businessman and active blogger Andrew Landeryou.

He spent the entire day in court 9C furiously scribbling notes as, first, Commonwealth Games chief John Harnden and then Solomon Lew's son, Steven, were put under the griller by barrister Michael Lee.

Harnden and Lew both reluctantly gave evidence in the liquidator's examination into the winding up of Factory 5, the company that until the middle of last year held the Commonwealth Games venue merchandising concession.

Factory 5 collapsed after Melbourne 2006 terminated its concession following a dispute about money with Lew's Playcorp, which is the official Games apparel licensee.

Landeryou has his own issues with the Lew family, whom he blames for his downfall from high-flying dotcom entrepreneur with a Parkville mansion and budding politico wife to his current lonely status in a Southbank apartment with little more than the weak glow of a computer screen for company. So his blog on Friday took great delight in regaling the reader with a colourful description of Steven Lew's uncomfortable couple of hours on the stand.


October 2 2006
Election campaigns can be a hard blog
Duncan Hughes


Victoria's formal election campaign might not start until the end of October but on the internet the battle is already raging as bloggers of all political persuasions try to win the hearts, minds and eyes of voters.

Sites such as Put Labor Last, The other cheek, Slanderyou, and the latest arrival, bracksed.com include a daily mix of commentary and reporting that ranges from the abusive to the sensational.

"While we may not directly reach large numbers of voters, [blogs] do provide an alternative to the mainstream media," said blogger John Quiggin, an economist at the University of Queensland.

Andrew Landeryou of The other cheek claims to "name the shameless and shame the nameless".

"I am not sure whether we can influence the result but we might influence some of the issues that might not otherwise come to public attention," he said.

Stephen Mayne, a share activist, whose jeffed.com website is credited with helping to unseat the previous Victorian premier, Jeff Kennett, said: "No blog will ever influence on its own unless what it reports is picked up by the mainstream media. That will be the challenge for blogging in Victoria."

In the United States, blogs are an increasingly powerful form of political commentary and fundraising.

The political potential was displayed earlier this year when former vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman was defeated in a Democratic primary for the seat he has held for almost 20 years by neophyte Ned Lamont, whose campaign was built around blogs.

In a recent speech at the University of Melbourne, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne claimed rising interest in blogs reflected public appetite for more debate and wider coverage of issues.

Senior media advisers for Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu claim to rarely read the sites.

While they may not have a large following in the electorate, many blogs are read regularly by party members ready to be amused or outraged by the latest leaks or speculation about MPs or party officials.


September 20 2007
Rear Window
Edited by Andrew White


Lew's lackeys crash Landeryous' lunch

As John Fletcher and Ric Allert finished hostilities with the investment community, across town there was a craftily staged ambush on Lygon Street.

But unlike recent events on the popular Melbourne strip, this one didn't start with bullets and end in a bodybag. Businessman Andrew Landeryou was having a birthday lunch with his father, former Victorian state MP Bill Landeryou. As father and son were breaking bread, two agents working for former Coles executive chairman and major shareholder Solomon Lew burst in and, like a white-collar hit, served them with court papers.

Lew once claimed Andrew Landeryou owed him as much as $3 million following the collapse of a dotcom he invested in.

Lew is now chasing him through the bankruptcy courts and the latest papers demand correspondence between father and son.

The lunchtime whack left the Landeryous wondering how the agents found them; the lunch wasn't exactly advertised.