Current evidence against alleged Trio Capital mastermind Jack Flader was insufficient to prove he breached Australian law, ASIC said yesterday.
In an update into its Trio investigations, the corporate regulator said based on "inquiries about Trio" to date, evidence against Flader was "insufficient" to proceed with action against him.
ASIC said it would provide the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Crime Commission with "relevant information" regarding Flader, however, it made no mention of any intention to step up its investigations to locate more than $100 million in lost Australian superannuation money.
"ASIC continues to communicate with overseas regulatory agencies in relation to the Trio matter," ASIC said in its update.
ASIC's comments regarding Flader come less than a month after a parliamentary committee released its report and subsequent concerns regarding Trio's collapse. In its report, the committee raised concerns over the lack of action taken against Flader by ASIC or the AFP.
"The committee wishes to see these agencies pursue criminal investigations into the key figures responsible for this scheme as a matter of high priority," the report, released on 16 May, said.
"ASIC must provide all necessary funding for PPB Advisory to pursue its investigation to a full conclusion, including where necessary conducting examinations on oath of figures such as Mr Flader and others it considers necessary as part of the investigation."
Despite releasing little detail in regard to any further investigations into Flader, ASIC said it was examining the conduct of "persons" relating to the failure of the ARP Growth Fund, a fund linked to Trio.
"ASIC's investigations indicate the reasons for ARP Growth Fund's losses appear different from those of the Astarra Strategic Fund, another Trio fund," it said.
"To date, the documents in ASIC's possession show the ARP Growth Fund failed following substantial investment in an offshore fund that had exposure to collateralised, leveraged credit default swap agreements. The investments failed during the global financial crisis."
To date, ASIC has taken action against 10 individuals, including ex-Trio director Shawn Richard.
The individuals had either been jailed, banned by ASIC from providing financial services, disqualified from managing corporations or agreed to remove themselves from participating in the financial services industry for a combined total of more than 50 years, the update said.
"ASIC is providing funding under the Assetless Administration Fund to the Trio liquidator [PPB] to enable investigation of the Trio collapse," it said.
Trio collapsed in late 2009, resulting in the loss of more than $100 million in investor funds.
