Trio-linked adviser takes swipe at Labor MP
Trio adviser Ross Tarrant has appealed his seven-year ban from the financial services industry, also criticising Labor MP Steve Jones for political point-scoring over the issue.
Tarrant, who invested $23 million of clients' funds in the failed Astarra Strategic Fund (ASF) and was subsequently banned by the regulator for seven years, lodged an appeal last week, claiming lack of procedural fairness.
"I have lodged an appeal over my seven-year banning order to the Federal Court last week on the grounds that former ALP Attorney General Justice Duncan Kerr has denied me procedural fairness, as well as natural justice, and has made a number of errors of law including the determining of an appropriate penalty," he said in an email sent to media outlets.
Tarrant also claimed his evidence was excluded and that the hearings continued for more than two days in his absence.
The adviser also used his media statement to respond to a submission made by Labor MP Steve Jones to the Senate inquiry into the workings of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which alleged Tarrant received significant commissions for recommending ASF.
In his submission, Jones said most self-managed super fund (SMSF) investors he had spoken to in his constituency were not aware they were not eligible for compensation under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993.
"That a large group of investors in one geographic area followed this same course of action suggests that this particular financial adviser [played] a key role in this process," Jones said.
"As a financial adviser, Ross Tarrant would have known that there would be no compensation available to these SMSF investors under Part 23," his submission added.
"That financial adviser received significant commissions for encouraging these investors to do this."
Tarrant responded by blaming the Labor Government and industry regulators for letting the fraud go unnoticed until it was too late.
"Why didn't the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) alert the market place in 2004 when problems emerged with the underlying asset values and unit prices," Tarrant asked.
"How could annual APRA audits fail to detect any irregularities warranting exposure to the market place?"
Tarrant accused both Jones and former Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Bill Shorten of political point-scoring over the issue.
"It is high time that Assistant Treasurer Mathias Cormann and Financial Services Minister Arthur Sinodinos took control of this fraud of the highest order now shamefully politicised by Bill Shorten and Jones, and compensate 12 per cent of the 6,000 investors desperately seeking restitution and an end to their suffering."
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