Mr Jamie Thomas Phelan, of Canley Vale, NSW has been convicted and ordered to pay $6,600 in the Dowling Centre Local Court for making a false or misleading statement to ASIC.

An ASIC investigation found that in March 2014, Mr Phelan, a director of security company Acecorp Security Pty Ltd, lodged a Form 6010 with ASIC to voluntarily deregister the company. 

On this form, Mr Phelan falsely and misleadingly claimed that Acecorp Security Pty Ltd was not party to legal proceedings. However, at the time, Acecorp Security Pty Ltd was being sued for an alleged assault by one of its security guards.

As a consequence of Mr Phelan's action, Acecorp Security Pty Ltd was deregistered, depriving the alleged assault victim from taking legal proceedings against the company.

In handing down her decision, Magistrate Megan Greenwood stated that Mr Phelan's conduct was shameful, designed to frustrate the court system in relation to the civil proceedings and that the maximum fine would be imposed to deter other directors from similar conduct.

As a result of the conviction, Mr Phelan is disqualified from acting in the management of a corporation until 19 March 2022.

The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Background

Section 1308(2) of the Corporations Act states that a person who, in a document required by or for the purposes of this Act or lodged with or submitted to ASIC, makes or authorises the making of a statement that to the person's knowledge is false or misleading in a material particular, or omits or authorises the omission of any matter or thing without which the document is to the person's knowledge misleading in a material respect, is guilty of an offence.

The maximum penalty for a breach of section 1308(2) is five years imprisonment or a fine of up to $36,000.

As this matter was heard in the Local Court jurisdiction, the maximum allowable penalty was limited to one year imprisonment or a fine of up to $6,600.