A Victorian bakery owner says he was appointed a “dummy director” and convicted of breaching the Corporations Act after a lawyer allegedly acting without his knowledge or consent pleaded guilty on his behalf, a court has heard.

On the first day of hearings for one of Australia’s largest-ever liquidators public examinations, the federal court heard from a Geelong baker who was one of a number of people allegedly used as a dummy director in an alleged tax evasion scheme that left creditors owed more than $100m.

The months-long hearings will examine the activities of the companies linked to Philip Whiteman – including Ainslie Harding & Wood Solicitors and A&S Services – which were allegedly used to shield businesses from the tax office and other creditors.

On Monday, baker Barry Santoro told the court he had never engaged a lawyer for the firm Ainslie Harding & Wood Solicitors, who allegedly appeared in the magistrate’s court in 2016 and admitted two charges of breaching the Corporations Act on his behalf.

Santoro, 58, was unaware of the charges against him, which he was facing after he was also appointed to the directorship of a company without his knowledge, the court heard.

Santoro told the court he had been been struggling to pay his rent and was referred to A&S Services by a local solicitor.

Santoro said that at a meeting with A&S services in 2015, he and his wife were told the company could help him negotiate with his landlord, but he told the court he saw no evidence this ever happened.

Later, he said he was asked by A&S Services’ Andrew Dunner, who the court heard was banned as a liquidator, and Donna Elliott to serve as a director for two companies – a horse-training business, and later, an Indian restaurant – to pay back the money he owed to A&S Services for their services.

He told the court he agreed to serve as directors for the two companies, and provided a copy of his licence, his tax file number and other personal details to A&S Services.

Ben Gibson, acting for the liquidator, Pitcher Partners, presented documents to the court that indicated Santoro had also been appointed the director of three other companies.

Santoro said he had never agreed to take on these roles and that any documents that indicated he had done so were false.

He was not aware of the other directorships until he began receiving letters relating to the companies in the mail, the court heard.

Asked by Gibson how he had become the director of those companies, Santoro replied: “I don’t know.”

Gibson presented an order from the magistrate’s court that said an Ainslie Harding & Wood lawyer, Reem Nassef, had admitted two charges on behalf of Santoro. The charges related to failing to produce documents in his role as a company director, one of the positions he said he had not agreed to take on.

Santoro said no one from A&S Services or Ainslie Harding & Wood Solicitors had ever informed him of the charges nor asked him for advice about how to proceed on his behalf. He did not learn of the charges against him until he received a statement of fines and penalties in the mail, which said a warrant for his arrest would be issued if he did not pay.

Santoro said he then contacted A&S Services because he was “very agitated and upset”.

He told the court Dunner had said, “Leave it with me and I’ll look after it”, and that he had told him to disregard the fines. Santoro said Dunner never told him that Ainslie Harding & Wood had acted on his behalf.

Asked by Gibson if he could be accurately described as a dummy director, meaning he acted as a figurehead only, Santoro replied “yes”.

He said he was currently pursuing legal avenues to have the convictions overturned.

The hearing continues.