A major and ongoing investigation into MA by this masthead over the past two months has exposed many of these issues and revealed how the firm has faced sustained scrutiny from authorities and liquidators. Ahuja has also been accused of being a serial sex harasser.
Despite the problems, MA won lucrative contracts with blue-chip companies including Coles; government agencies such as the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission; several AFL clubs and major sporting events; elite schools and universities; and state government infrastructure projects in NSW and Victoria.
The Keilor Park headquarters.Credit: Penny Stephens
“Many of these clients didn’t care about the suspicion MA was built on a rotten model that rips off workers and the ATO,” a veteran security source told this masthead. “They hired it [the company] because it was cheaper than other security providers.”
In a statement sent to this masthead, insolvency practitioners Glen Kanevsky and Jason Tracy confirmed they had been appointed administrators of MA and were now overseeing “a significant number of redundancies”.
The true number of security guards and cleaners impacted may not be known for weeks as MA obscured the true size of its workforce via the use of…