In the period 1 January to 30 June 2009, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) successfully prosecuted 236 company officers in relation to 415 contraventions of the Corporations Act.
ASIC took these actions following complaints from the general public and business community, including external administrators and liquidators who are obliged to report certain offences to ASIC. These prosecutions resulted in fines and costs of approximately $424,989.
A small number of the offences related to managing a company while disqualified and in one instance, lodging false and misleading documents with ASIC.
Most of the prosecutions followed offences relating to company officers failing to comply with their obligations to assist liquidators and administrators or provide them with access to a company's books. ASIC also took action against directors who failed to update ASIC public information registers with the address of their companies and company officers, often in an attempt to avoid creditors.
Of the 236 directors prosecuted, 187 were from New South Wales, 24 were from Queensland, 18 were from Victoria and seven were from South Australia.
A full list of the company officers prosecuted, including the offences, the result and the officers’ location, follows.
Background
These matters were prosecuted summarily before the Local and Magistrates’ Courts across Australia and only include prosecutions for specific breaches of the Act (listed in the attachment to this advisory), not all of the deterrence actions undertaken by ASIC in this period. Some of the offences were prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Information about ASIC’s deterrence activities are contained in individual media releases, available from ASIC's website at www.asic.gov.au.
Complaints regarding suspected breaches of the Corporations Act can be lodged with ASIC via our website or by writing to any our capital city offices across Australia:
Misconduct & Breach Reporting
ASIC
GPO Box 9827
IN YOUR CAPITAL CITY
Download Attachment to AD09-191: Prosecution report January - June 2009