Australian Securities & Investments Commission charges construction industry director over alleged AUD 250,000 Mercedes purchases ahead of liquidation and false ASIC filing

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) announced that Recep Cevis has appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with two counts of breaching directors’ duties and one count of lodging a false and misleading document with ASIC. The charges relate to Mr Cevis’s conduct as sole director of Cevis Holding Pty Ltd and RC Engineering Consultancy Pty Ltd, both wound up on 19 December 2022. ASIC alleges that shortly before the wind-up, he entered purchase agreements for two Mercedes-Benz vehicles, one for each company, each valued at over AUD 250,000 and financed despite the companies’ imminent liquidation and lack of capacity to repay the resulting debt. ASIC also alleges he lodged a form about Cevis Holding’s assets that failed to disclose a Mercedes-Benz vehicle financed through Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd. The alleged offences are under section 184(1) of the Corporations Act (maximum 15 years’ imprisonment) and section 1308(2) (maximum five years’ imprisonment). The matter was first heard on 28 October 2025 for a filing hearing and is listed for a committal mention on 20 January 2026. The prosecution is being conducted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) following an ASIC referral.