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Aussie Home Loans executive chairman John Symond is suing Gadens Lawyers for negligent and misleading or deceptive tax advice relating to the restructure of parent company AHL Holdings.
According to The Australian Financial Review, Mr Symond has lodged a claim for around $11 million against Gadens, after he was forced to pay a substantial amount of tax to the ATO in 2007, relating to advice given to him by the law firm.
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In a letter obtained by the daily, Mr Symond’s lawyer Bruce Hambrett said Gadens had advised that redeemable preference shares should be issued to and then redeemed by Mr Symond, with no tax payable as a result.
However a lengthy investigation by the ATO resulted in Mr Symond paying a “substantial amount of tax”.
Despite the dispute, Jon Denovan, chief operating officer at Gadens, said he and Mr Symond remained friends and Gadens continued to do Aussie’s legal work.
“I helped him [Mr Symond] set up Aussie years ago. It doesn’t affect our friendship at all or our business relationship – it’s stronger than ever,” he told the AFR.
