Auckland dentist Madhava R Gopi Reddy failed to get a High Court freezing order lifted over all his personal assets with the High Court ruling that unwillingness to fully disclose his current financial position to finance company De Lage Landen owed some five million dollars justified a continued freeze.
An interim freezing order was imposed in December 2024, with De Lage Landen concerned that Mr Reddy was selling up and shifting back to India.
Branded as DLL, De Lage Landen finances business equipment purchases.
In late 2024, Mr Reddy was in India (to assist his sick mother, he later explained) and a real estate agent handling sale of an Auckland property told DLL that Mr Reddy was ‘moving home’ (a statement wrongly interpreted by DLL at the time that he was shifting to India, when he was in fact shifting across town to another Auckland property he owned, Mr Reddy later told DLL).
The High Court was told Mr Reddy stands as guarantor for DLL loans used to buy equipment used at his multiple dental surgeries across Auckland. Some of these dental practices have since gone into liquidation, insolvent. Increased costs and a downturn in consumer demand during the recent recession caused these business failures, Mr Reddy said.
In August 2024, DLL called up its loans and demanded repayment from Mr Reddy. It says some five million dollars is outstanding.
It dismissed Mr Reddy’s repayment proposal as inadequate. Learning that Mr Reddy was selling up real estate he owned across Auckland, concerned that he was intending to permanently leave New Zealand, and suspicious that Mr Reddy was being less than forthcoming about his personal financial position, DLL had the High Court freeze his personal assets.
Mr Reddy’s later application to have this freezing order lifted was dismissed.
Having returned to New Zealand, he told the court he had no plans to depart permanently.
Whilst under no legal obligation to disclose his financial position to DLL, Mr Reddy’s decision not to provide any detail justifies continuing the asset freeze, Justice O’Gorman ruled.
There is a risk these assets may be dissipated.
Terms of the freezing order allow release of funds to pay household expenses and business debts falling due in the normal course of business.
Mr Reddy’s plans to sell his Auckland properties can continue, Justice O’Gorman said, with DLL agreeing sale-by-sale that each property be released from the freeze and net proceeds of sale then frozen.
De Lange Landen Ltd v. Reddy – High Court (18.03.25)
25.087