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Andrew Sigalla fined for contempt of court Susannah Moran and Rebecca Urban From: The Australian December 30, 2009

businessman Andrew Sigalla has been found to be in contempt of court following his involvement in the sale of an industrial property owned by a family company.
ZMS Investments, which is controlled by Mr Sigalla and his wife, had its assets frozen by the NSW Supreme Court in September, following an application by TZ Limited, a listed technology company once run by the businessman and now chaired by Wizard Home Loans founder Mark Bouris.

According to a judgment of the NSW Supreme Court, Mr Sigalla was in breach of the orders when he exchanged contracts on a $910,000 industrial unit -- one of 18 that ZMS Investments had developed -- in November. The freezing orders are in place until March next year.

The verdict, handed down two days before Christmas, is the latest of Mr Sigalla's legal worries. He and several former members of TZ's board are being sued by the company, which is attempting to recoup almost $14 million from former directors and their related parties.

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According to TZ's annual report, also released on December 23, the nature of substantial transactions between the company and its former directors was not clear and would be subject to court proceedings next year.

The report highlights the tenuous financial position of the company, which is backed by Queensland bookmakers Lindsay Gallagher and Ramon Karangis and adman Siimon Reynolds.

TZ posted a $34.5m loss for the year, prompting its new auditors to warn of the risk of collapse unless shareholders supported a new work-out plan with main financier QVT, which is owed about $18.6m.

Mr Sigalla was the company's chairman until June 2, when he resigned following an attempt by a shareholder to spill the board.

He has denied TZ's claims and is suing the company for more than $1m in termination fees.

In the contempt proceedings, Mr Sigalla said he had consented to the freezing orders on the assumption that he would have access to more than $500,000 in a Netherlands bank account but later discovered the bank would not allow him to access the money. Mr Sigalla told the court he had instructed lawyers to exchange contracts because he thought Perpetual, which was pursuing ZMS Investments for $1.8m, would otherwise sell the unit as a mortgagee sale.

However, judge Robert Austin found that Mr Sigalla had "knowingly and intentionally" caused ZMS Investments to breach the orders.

He said Mr Sigalla's false evidence during cross-examination -- that he had not been thinking about the court orders when he authorised the exchange of contracts -- added to the seriousness of the contravention.

ZMS and Mr Sigalla were fined $5000 each.