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The CDPP's decision to drop all criminal cartel charges against two banks and four individuals in a "test case" over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement shows the ACCC "lacks expertise and objectivity" on the financial markets and should leave them to ASIC to regulate, according to one of the former accused.
In a stunning reversal, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution has dropped all criminal cartel charges against two investment banks and four individuals in relation to a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, four years after the charges were brought following an allegedly questionable investigation by the ACCC.
The law firms and barristers who defended former Dick Smith directors in sprawling litigation over the failure of the electronics retailer earned close to $68 million in fees, a court has heard.
National Australia Bank and HSBC should be "jointly and severally liable" to pay a portion of the costs of a failed case brought by Dick Smith's receivers against the company's former directors because the banks stood to gain financially if the lawsuit was successful, the NSW Supreme Court has heard.
A judge has ruled he will not consider a separate question on whether Acciona is barred from setting off any damages payable to Lendlease in a lawsuit over the $160 million sale of its engineering business.
Dick Smith's former CFO will appeal a $43 million judgment in favour of National Australia Bank over his role in the retailer's collapse.
A ruling this week that rejected the first application for a group costs order in a class action because the applicants were better off with their existing no win, no fee arrangement was the right decision given the limits of the legislation, experts say.
Saying the interests of class action members "must be given primacy", a judge has rejected the first bid for a group costs order in a class action since contingency fee legislation passed in Victoria.
ASIC has agreed to provide Westpac with the transcript of a compulsory examination of one of its traders in court proceedings accusing the bank of insider trading in relation to the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid.
Two Westpac units have been hit with $10.5 million in fines for providing personal financial advice during a superannuation rollover campaign, with a barrister for ASIC noting the bank had not apologised or expressed regret for the conduct.