Reseller CEO faces 10 years jail

Former CEO of defunct reseller S Central has appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court to face 35 charges arising from an ASIC investigation.

Peter Mavridis faces "24 charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception, 10 charges of false accounting and one charge of dishonest use of position as a director", said ASIC in a statement.

The maximum penalty for the first two charges is 10 years imprisonment, according to the regulator.

ASIC alleges that Mavridis, while CEO of S Central, secured over $3 million of credit by submitting "duplicated and falsely inflated invoices to National Australia Bank".

Mavridis is also accused of falsifying supporting documents for those invoices. The charge of dishonest use of position as a director involves an allegation of using $20000 held on trust to clear a personal credit card debt.

The alleged offences are reported to have taken place in 2009, said ASIC.

S Central's former financial controller David Cologna was sentenced to 12 months jail in November, pleading guilty to five charges of falsifying invoices to National Australia Bank.

"This led to credit totalling approximately $4.8 million being advanced to companies within the S Central Group," ASIC said in a statement at the time.

S Central was first reported to be in trouble in 2009. After ComputerCorp failed, Brennan IT purchased S Central's assets and goodwill in November that year, with some staff left unpaid after the deal.

In February 2010, the company went into liquidation.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has taken up the Mavridis case and the matter has been adjourned until 10 June.