A group of companies of the former Brierley Investment group are suing accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for more than $1.5 billion claiming they were given poor advice going back more than 20 years.
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However, PwC denies liability in the case which is being heard in the High Court in Wellington.
A court judgement detailed the case, in which the Brierley companies - BIL NZ Treasury, GL Management PTE, GL, and Brierley Holdings - say that between 1998 and 2018 they acted on advice from PwC on how to use historical tax losses.
The judgement noted the $1.582 billion in losses could only be used if they were offset against income generated, and the companies sought advice from PwC on the best way to hold on to the losses until that could be achieved.
"Finally, they say that, during the financial year ending 30 June 2019, in circumstances which need not be described here, it became apparent that the advice that PwC had provided was wrong, and that as a result the opportunity to utilise the tax losses was lost," Associate Judge Kenneth Johnston outlined in a judgement published this week.
"The plaintiffs sue PwC claiming the potential value of the tax losses."
The accountancy and advisory firm denied liability and said the arrangements were developed by advisors within the companies, and that the advice it provided was sound.
Summarising PwC's defence, Johnston said "even if its advice had not been correct, the plaintiffs' claim is for the loss of a chance and they will not be able to prove that at any point they were able to generate income which would have enabled them to avail themselves of the chance".
The Brierley companies and PwC sought to have each other's claims and defence further clarified and more documentation provided, which the judge ordered both parties to do.
Brierley Investments no longer exists, having shifted to Singapore in 1999, being taken over by Guoco Leisure, and delisting from the NZX in 2014. Guoco has just been privatised by its major shareholders.
