The former CEO of Kleenmaid Andrew Young has said that there is no truth in claims that he is set to launch the Kleenmaid brand via Harvey Norman stores. He has also said that he is set to sue online web site Current and journalist Grant Shepherd who he has accused of deliberately writing unsubstantiated stories based solely on rumour and gossip.
In an exclusive interview with ChannelNews, Young, who headed the Kleenmaid appliance business that earlier this year was placed into administration with debts of over $100M dollars said that Current and Appliance Retailer was deliberately waging a campaign based purely on speculation and emails from people who have lost money.
“I have attempted to call them to correct issues they have not returned my calls”. He said.
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| Andrew Young right with Brad Young |
“Yes we went broke and yes we owed a lot of money but that does not mean that one can write stories that are false and malicious. They appear to have a deliberate agenda”. He added.
“We are not relaunching the Kleenmaid brand and we have not done a deal with Harvey Norman. All that Grant Shepherd had to do was call me to substantiate the allegation.
I have already spoken to my lawyers and we are building a case to sue this particular journalist and Intermedia. An email from some aggrieved person is not facts, it is speculation and nine times out of ten the information he is printing is plain wrong. All he had to do was call me to find out the truth”.
Young said that he has spoken to the liquidator and ASIC and that he was prepared to co-operate fully with investigators. “Yes I have been overseas and yes I am trying to get on with my life. Just because Kleenmaid was placed into administration does not mean I cannot work. I accept that I cannot be a director or run a Company”.
Earlier today Shepherd claimed that source who wishes to remain anonymous revealed to Current.com.au the real reasons behind disgraced Kleenmaid director Andrew Young’s trip to the US was to purchase Speed Queen washing machine products at cost price, so he could make a premium on them in the Australian market.
Another senior executive of Kleenmaid who is close to Andrew Young said “This was an utterly false and stupid story. It’s like Shepherd has just discovered that distributors buy a product at one price and sell them at another price to make a profit. I think he sees himself as an Investigative journalist but all of his stories lack substance and accurate information”.
“I hope he has his documents in order and that Intermedia have good deformation insurance because he has deliberately been running a smear campaign without one single piece of evidence to justify his wild claims. A key part of the journalists code of ethics is to write accurate facts and to do this one has to check the facts. He has never done this with us”.
Young added “There has already been an investigation by ASIC and we are co-operating with them going forward. Shepherd, who appears to have his own agenda, has labelled us as crooks, obtaining a benefits by deception and cutting deals to go back into business. This is not true”.
“We have been allowed to travel and I have long standing relationships with vendors and suppliers in the USA and elsewhere. I have met with some of these suppliers to explain what has been happening”.
Young admitted that he is currently in discussion with the liquidator, Deloitte, re several issues relating to the collapse.
Senior executives at Intermedia the owners of online web site Current and Appliance Retailer had not returned calls to ChannelNews when this story was posted.
