Mr Jeffrey Lucy, Chairman of ASIC, and Mr Damian Bugg QC, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), have executed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate the working relationship between the two agencies.
The new MOU replaces an earlier memorandum created in 1992. It includes references to ASIC’s jurisdiction in relation to financial services and has been amended to pick up other changes in the law and the manner in which the two agencies now operate.
ASIC Chairman, Mr Jeffrey Lucy said, ‘We welcome the revised MOU that we have entered with the CDPP. It strengthens our working relationship with the CDPP in a manner that ensures we will continue to effectively carry out our duties’.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Damian Bugg QC said, ‘The MOU more appropriately reflects the operational arrangements and effective working relationships that had been developed between the agencies over the past 15 years of investigating and prosecuting serious commercial wrong doing’.
The MOU recognises the need for the fullest collaboration and co-operation between the two organisations at all levels to discharge their respective functions in relation to the investigation and prosecution of corporate and financial services wrongdoing.
It also recognises that timeliness and accountability underpin the effective execution of their respective roles.
Under the agreement, when ASIC believes a criminal offence may have been committed and has gathered sufficient evidence to enable it to support that view, ASIC will refer a brief of evidence to the CDPP in a timely manner. The MOU requires that the CDPP will give appropriate weight to ASIC’s views concerning the public interest in prosecuting matters.
In addition, the MOU permits ASIC to prosecute such summary regulatory offences as are agreed from time to time between ASIC and the CDPP at the national level. ASIC may conduct such proceedings where there is a guilty plea without reference to the CDPP and, where agreed, in such proceedings where there is not a guilty plea.
The MOU also requires that ASIC will consult with the CDPP before making an application for a civil penalty order.
Finally, the MOU outlines the liaison arrangements between the agencies, recognising that proper and appropriate communication and liaison at all levels, approached in a spirit of co-operation, is essential to an effective working relationship.
End of release