Westpoint’s embattled directors face prosecution as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) tightens the screws on the company.
ASIC applied to the Western Australian Federal Court for an extension of six months to freeze the assets of Norman Carey, Richard Beck, John Dixon and Graeme Rundle. The regulator said it needed the time because money belonging to investors risk being shifted or dissolved.
The first criminal charges have been laid as part of the investigation after Westpoint identity Neil Burnard appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court charged with 18 offences. Bernard is alleged to have raised investors’ money through his former company, Kebbel Investment Bank, which ASIC says never existed.
ASIC will also investigate the role of the 120 licensed and unlicensed financial advisers, many of whom received high commissions, who recommended the high risk property venture in which 4000 investors lost up to $400 million.
In an 187-page affidavit, ASIC’s deputy executive director of enforcement Allen Turton said ASIC will focus on alleged fundraising, asset stripping and document destruction and failure to disclose key information to investors. The investigation will take 12 to 18 months.
Norman Carey faces criminal action for allegedly stripping $3.25 million from Westpoint and deleting thousands of files from computer servers shortly after the group went into receivership.
Taxpayers will foot a $2.6 million bill for a database ASIC has created containing 4.8 million Westpoint documents. The database collection involved 102 staff working 16 hours a day, six days a week, a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile Christmas will be a lean time for many people who lost their life savings, Westpoint Investors Group president Graeme Macaulay said.
“We have people who can’t buy their kids anything for Christmas. We’ve had people who’ve lost their homes,” he said.
