Devastated ... Fiona Wright. Photo: Karleen Minney
Fiona Wright sounds like a broken woman. She feels her last chance to clear her name, restore her reputation and to possibly pursue damages in a court for her former employees and suppliers has been dashed.
She firmly believed there was a good chance that staff at the National Gallery of Australia might be summonsed to court to answer her claims they mismanaged her company's catering contract to such an extent that it led to the downfall of her catering business.
However, the liquidator of the business has decided against that option, believing there is not sufficient evidence to go down that path and risk the relatively meagre funds available to creditors on a legal challenge.
Ms Wright said she was not allowed to speak to the legal team that investigated the possible summons but did supply them with reams of documents. She is shattered that it ultimately will go no further.
''It would be a winnable case,'' she said. ''I've sold everything. I'm on Centrelink [payments]. That's my whole income. I don't have the money to fight a legal campaign. I knew if [the liquidator] just pursued this, everyone would get paid.''
Ms Wright says she feels humiliated, ''like a spectacular failure''.
''It's torture because it looks to me as if I'm the greatest liar in the world,'' she said.
Now living on Centrelink payments and sharing a house in Melbourne, she feels ''gutted, absolutely gutted'' for her former staff and suppliers caught up in the collapse of her catering business a year ago.
The catering company was run with her then business partner, former Wallabies and Brumbies player Jeremy Paul. He was last reported to be playing for the Terrigal Trojans rugby club on the Central Coast. The pair no longer speak.
Ms Wright, who has sold her home in Canberra, was for decades a big name in the restaurant and catering industry in the national capital.
She ran high-profile restaurants the Lobby and Waters Edge. She had the catering contracts at the National Gallery, Parliament House, the Defence Department. She was the long-time president of the ACT Restaurant and Catering Association. She was the go-to caterer for all the big functions.
She said she had never had financial difficulties before last year.
''I have never defaulted on a creditor. I've never owed anyone money ever. I have letters from suppliers supporting me, saying I was a good client,'' she said.
''Catering is such a hard industry and we were so good at it.''
Former Actew Water and ActewAGL chairman John Mackay said he believed Ms Wright underestimated the goodwill that many in Canberra felt for her, while still being disappointed about the circumstances surrounding the demise of her business and feeling for the people left out of pocket.
Mr Mackay said he remained a friend and supporter of Ms Wright and believed if she returned to Canberra to open a business ''the top end of town would be there to support her in a heartbeat''.
''There are hundreds of kids in the restaurant and catering business in Canberra and the reason they are there and that they are so good is Fiona Wright taught them,'' he said.
However, former staff, who are reluctant to speak publicly, have expressed outrage, not only because they were not paid their entitlements but also because Ms Wright and Mr Paul appear to have escaped any penalty for breaching their duties as company directors, with liquidator Henry Kazar reporting he believed breaches had been made.
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