ASIC has brought criminal charges against a trustee of a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) who retained more than half a million dollars in commissions.
Atan Ona Kassongo of NSW was a trustee of Kassongo Superannuation Fund (KSF).
According to ASIC, over $4 million from 192 people was rolled from 56 complying superannuation funds into the bank accounts of KSF.
Kassongo allegedly used KSF to allow people early access to their superannuation benefits and in the process Kassongo kept over $600,000 as a commission.
ASIC alleges that Kassongo had no intention to preserve these benefits until people had satisfied a condition of release, even though he knew of his obligation to do so.
The Australian Taxation Office assisted the corporate watchdog with the criminal charges. These charges are the first to be laid against a SMSF trustee under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act.
The criminal charges followed civil proceedings initiated by ASIC in January 2007. At the time ASIC found that Kassongo was involved in illegally allowing people early access to their superannuation. He was consequently banned from providing financial advice.
