ASIC stops illegal investment scheme supply
The corporate regulator has obtain orders from the Supreme Court of Queensland in Brisbane preventing the operators of an illegal investment scheme from soliciting additional investors’ funds for the project.
Hillston Grove Vineyards (HGVL) and Managed Investments Australia, operators of an illegal investment scheme called the Hillston Grove Vineyards Project, had sought court approval to seek a further $4 million for the scheme from investors as part of a restructuring proposal.
Subsequent to this request, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) was granted orders by the court preventing the operators from trying to attract any additional funds from investors in the scheme until the regulator’s application to have the investment project wound up had been heard.
The court also imposed the condition that any new funds the operators did receive from investors be forwarded Ernst & Young’s Justin Walsh, the court appointed trustee for the investors.
Additional restrictions on the operators of the project were imposed by the court as result of ASIC concerns, including requiring HGVL to prepare a disclosure document regarding any proposed fund raising and have it lodged with ASIC by July 17, 2007; have Justin Walsh chair any meeting of investors and notify the regulator of any such meeting within 21 days; and provide ASIC with copies of any correspondence between HGVL and investors within three working days.
In other news, an ASIC investigation has led to the former director of an Australian-based Malaysian bank to be ordered to stand trial on three charges of dishonestly using his position as an officer of a corporation, and one charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
Adrian Ong’s illegal conduct is alleged to have taken place between December 2000 and August 2004 when he was a director of a company called Kantoch, formerly known as Commercial IBT.
The charges relate to allegations from the regulator that in September 2002 Ong provided Bendigo Bank with false financial statements in order to secure an overdraft facility and corporate credit cards.
Ong pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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