Gerry Harvey, the Chairman of Harvey Norman has finally talked about the placing into administration of his biggest franchisee Harvey Norman Commercial, the sacking of his long-time friend who ran the business, however there was no mention of claimed missing superannuation payments for former staff.

The story of the collapse of Harvey Norman Commercial was exclusively exposed by ChannelNews.

The Harvey Norman Chairman who reported a shocker result this week, said after the alleged theft, Harvey Norman conducted an internal audit, which led to the discovery of mismanagement and overstocking, revealing the level of incompetence was “quite high”.

He said that the business that witnessed a 32% fall in profits was battling a rising theft problem, he also admitted that another employee stole $100,000.

In February, charges were laid against two former staffers, Troy Robertson, and Kerry Dalton, who faced 35 and 127 charges respectively over alleged theft of about $600,000.

Mr Robertson pleaded guilty to one charge, while Ms Dalton pleaded guilty to three charges, and all others were dropped. They will be sentenced on October 3.

He told the Australian Financial Review that his long-time friend Alan Stephenson “lost control of the business,” and the fact that he had to sack him after millions went missing was “one of those tragedies” in life.

Harvey Norman Commercial had revenues of over $400 million a year, Stephenson was dismissed after two staff members were caught allegedly stealing funds.

Gerry Harvey claimed that Stephenson who had worked for the retailer for 50 years was “not a thief”. “I had lunch with him, and you know it’s sad.

But it’s a one-off,” Mr Harvey said.

He was described as being “Part of the bloody Harvey Norman family”.