ASIC convictions quashed
Two men who were jailed as a result of charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and have already served eight months in prison have had their convictions quashed by the Western Australian Court of Criminal Appeal.
The men, Brian Millwood Smith and Stuart Adrian Corp, were jailed for three years on charges brought by ASIC in 2007.
The Court of Criminal Appeal ordered that Smith be retried in relation to six charges of knowingly providing misleading information as to his relevant interest in shares to ASIC and the Australian Securities Exchange and two charges of unlawfully permitting voting on related party resolutions at general meetings of shareholders. He was acquitted on six charges of failing to act honestly and thereby breaching his duty as a director.
Corp was ordered to be retried on seven charges of knowingly providing misleading information as to his relevant interest in shares to ASIC and the Australian Securities Exchange and two charges of unlawfully permitting voting on related party resolutions at general meetings of shareholders. Like, Smith, Corp was acquitted on six charges of failing to act honestly and thereby breaching his duty as a director.
ASIC said that it and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions were considering the judgement.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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