Several banks and executives facing criminal cartel charges over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement have won access to interview notes taken by whistleblower JP Morgan prior to it being granted immunity, which the banks say will prove inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.
HWL Ebsworth has been ordered to hand over file notes to a former client and whistleblower suing ANZ for unfair dismissal, with a judge rejecting the law firm’s argument that the notes were created solely for the benefit of the junior solicitor taking them.
A junior solicitor’s meeting notes during an ASIC investigation of ANZ did not belong to her client despite the lawyer billing for her attendance at the meeting, law firm HWL Ebsworth has argued before a skeptical judge.
The judge who vowed last year to move a criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement to trial “before we all retire” will soon weigh the ACCC’s claim for privilege over statements from JPMorgan witnesses it has been accused of pressuring during its investigation, two months after a different judge heard a still unresolved privilege fight in the long-running case.
The prosecution in a criminal cartel case against several banks and high-ranking executives over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement has fought back against accusations that its indictment is “fundamentally flawed” and should be quashed.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has taken the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to court for slapping nearly 1 million customers with unauthorised monthly access fees totaling $55 million over a nine-year period.
A judge has ruled that a former ANZ trader who alleges he was fired after complaining about rate-rigging at the bank can amend his lawsuit after separate proceedings that accuse law firm HWL Ebsworth of withholding his client file are resolved, saying the HWL documents could contain a “golden nugget”.
Banking giant ANZ, which is facing a class action over a flex commissions scheme by its former car finance business, has admitted that the calculation of car dealers’ commission was aimed at encouraging loans with interest above a “base rate”.
ANZ will fight to keep a sacked trader from accessing a client file held by HWL Ebsworth, citing privilege over the documents, a court has heard.
A sacked ANZ trader who alleges he was fired after making complaints about rate-rigging at the bank has sued his former law firm for allegedly withholding documents needed to amend his case against the big four bank.