The company,which had offices in England and Australia,sells machines that promise to convert food scraps into water,with notable customers includingLiverpool Football Club, Woolworths,Coles,Harris Farm and Melbourne’s high-end restaurant Longrain.
Multiple former business associates of Mr Papas said his plan was to grow Iugis “as quickly as possible” in preparation for expansion in Europe and the Middle East and an ASX listing. Sales staff were encouraged to do “whatever the customer wanted”,including offering free installation and maintenance of the machines.
The AgeandHeraldcan also reveal Iugis relied heavily on a relationship with multinational Veolia and had to pour resources into modifying the machines to comply with local water regulations and health and safety standards.
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Multiple sources said Iugis paid Veolia for access to its customer network and at least two staff worked across the companies.
A Veolia slideshow from 2019,obtained by this masthead,shows the French-headquartered company promoting Iugis’ technology to prospective customers. “It’s with yesterday’s old that we build a new tomorrow,” the presentation said,signed by an individual whose LinkedIn shows employment at both Veolia and Iugis.
Veolia is listed in Westpac’s affidavit as a victim of the broader Forum Finance fraud and a spokeswoman said no staff worked in Iugis while they were employed by Veolia. “Veolia did not have a ‘partnership’ of any sort with Iugis. Veolia had distribution agreements in place which was the limit of the exchange of customer listings,” the spokeswoman said.