A former Commonwealth Bank executive facing criminal commercial bribery charges has been ordered to hand over a number of documents in a US lawsuit brought by IT company Computer Sciences Corporation, but has avoided orders compelling him to take the witness stand.
Sparke Helmore has refuted allegations by IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees (SA) that it failed to provide proper legal advice to the trustee on a 2012 pine plantation sale that left 4,500 investors without millions of dollars worth of assets.
IOOF subsidiary Australian Executor Trustees (SA) is facing an $82 million claim for compensation by investors angered by the way the trustee handled the sale of a 42,000 hectare timber plantation run by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group.
A court has heard a former HWL Ebsworth property lawyer admitted to errors in a due diligence report missing crucial flood risk information that is at the centre of a trial over a $28.5 million sale of Crown-owned land in Sydney.
Sirtex Medical has reached a mid-trial agreement to resolve a shareholder class action that centred on the biotech company’s sales forecasts of its radiation treatment.
The former chief executive officer of Hastie Services has admitted to asking staff to make up for a shortfall between forecast and actual profits at the firm, but claims he made the order with the expectation it would be done legally, the jury hearing a criminal case against him was told.
A former finance manager from Hastie Services and key witness for the prosecution in the criminal trial against two of the company’s former executives only pointed the finger at former COO Ian Thompson to avoid jail time herself, a jury has heard.
The former CEO of a unit of collapsed construction firm Hastie Group told staff to “raid the balance books” to make up financial targets linked to his bonus, prosecutors said at the outset of a two-month criminal trial.
A battle over expert evidence in an invester class action against Fitch Ratings has delayed this month’s scheduled trial in the case by three months and forced the court to send the parties’ experts into conclaves.
Banking giant Westpac has criticised the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s old fashioned approach to home loan serviceability, saying its own complex system is more efficient and would “pass muster” in the face of the regulator’s allegations that it breached responsible lending laws.