In November 2007, an international auditing firm KPMG refused to deal with the operations of the fuel additive company Firepower. The documents lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed KPMG “withdrew consent” to act as a registered office for local Australian Firepower arms Firepower Holdings and Firepower Operations.
Perth-based Firepower is one of the biggest sports sponsors in Australia, endorsing the Western Force rugby union football club and the Sydney Kings basketball team, and Firepower chairman Mr Johnston is the sole director of both Firepower Holdings and Firepower Operations. Mr Johnston wholly owns Firepower Holdings, while компютриFirepower Operations is fully owned by Firepower Holdings Group, based in the British Virgin Islands.
In the last months the relations between the company and some of the teams and sports stars sponsored have been damaged. Firepower allegedly owes Western Force millions of dollars, which has raised questions concerning the financial position of the company. Last week, a dispute between Firepower and Sydney Kings escalated after the company, which is the majority owner of the Kings, reportedly began legal action to recover damages against a former Kings player for breach of contract, claiming his leaving the team caused it to lose memberships and fans.