Creditors have alleged assets were shifted from one company, Steve Rout Contracting (SRC), into another company, Blue 9 Ltd, just before SRC was placed in receivership owing them several hundred thousand dollars.
A financing statement list from the Companies Office records, dated April 29, shows finance company UDC to be the secured party for Blue 9 Ltd's assets, including nearly 30 earthworks and utility vehicles.
These assets are the subject of the allegations.
Blue 9 Ltd was set up in 2005 and, since March, Steve Rout and wife Jane have been removed as shareholders, giving sole trusteeship to Queenstown accountants McCulloch and Partners.
Mr Rout was still listed as the director of Blue 9 Ltd on the Companies Office website.
When contacted, Mr Rout declined to make any comment on specific financial movements but said he had been in contact with creditors.
"As far as I'm concerned I'm a victim of circumstance ... I will not discuss my financial affairs in newspapers," Mr Rout said earlier this month.
Mr Rout's Frankton-based firm, Steve Rout Contracting, which he started with his brother in 1981, was placed in receivership by BDO Christchurch on May 3.
Several contractors spoken to confirmed they were owed money in amounts between $5000 and $50,000 and were trying to recover their debts, but they declined to comment publicly.
When asked about the alleged transfer, Mr Rout said "after 30 years in business" he had always been "straight up ... you're barking up the wrong tree", he said.
Asked if assets had been moved into Blue 9 Ltd to protect them, and, if this was the case, whether the receivers could realise such assets to cover money owed to creditors, BDO receiver Stephen Tubbs said it was not his firm's policy to comment on the affairs of private companies and "to do so could breach the NZ Institute of Accountants code of ethics".
However, lawyers spoken to by the Otago Daily Times confirmed receivers can investigate transactions in companies before they were placed in receivership.
Mr Rout said SRC's woes stemmed primarily from losing a contract on the $2 billion Five Mile project, which was placed in receivership and abandoned in 2008.
In the ensuing global economic meltdown, he was forced to write off about $1 million in debt.
He also said 35 of his 40 workers had been given interim work for up to three months with his other companies, including Blue 9, which is also completing SRC's work on Forsyth Barr stadium, in Dunedin.
One of the contractors making the asset transfer allegation of SRC said he had already spent six times the amount owed to him trying to recover the debt, but was persevering on principle, even though he did not expect to be paid.
The first receivers' report on SRC is due in July.
