THE Full Supreme Court of Western Australia has dismissed an appeal by William Forge and Peter Clark in relation to civil proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The order dismissing the appeal was made with the consent of all parties.
The appeal related to a Federal Court ruling on April 1 1999, in which the court declared that Mr Forge and Mr Clark, together with fellow director David Muir, were not directors of Hallmark Gold NL during the period October 23 to December 18 1998.
That proceeding was subsequently transferred to the Supreme Court of WA.
Following ASIC’s criminal investigation Mr Forge and Mr Clark were convicted of making improper use of their positions as directors of Hallmark in 2004.
Mr Forge was sentenced to two and a half years’ jailed to be released after serving 12 months upon entering into a recognisance order for the period of 12 months in the sum of $10,000.
Mr Clark was sentenced to 18 months’ jail to be released after nine months upon entering into a recognizance release order for a period of 12 months in the sum of $10,000.
Both Mr Clark and Mr Forge have lodged appeals against their convictions.
Conflicts management policy released
FINANCIAL service providers have been told how they are expected to manage their conflicts of interest in a new policy statement from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission called Licensing: Managing conflicts of interest.
ASIC deputy executive director of financial services regulation Pamela McAlister said: "The CLERP 9 legislation imposes, for the first time, a direct and specific obligation on licensees to have adequate arrangements to manage their conflicts of interest".
"Conflicts of interest can have a significant impact on the quality and integrity of services a licensee provides."
The policy statement is based on the new conflicts management obligation for licensees implemented in CLERP9 that takes effect from January 1 next year.
To comply with its conflicts management policy ASIC expects licensees to have arrangements to manage all conflicts of interest affecting their business.
These arrangements involve controlling conflicts of interest; avoiding conflicts of interest; and disclosing conflicts of interest.
In controlling conflicts ASIC expects licensees to: identify the conflicts of interest relating to their business; assess and evaluate those conflicts; and decide upon, and implement, an appropriate response to those conflicts.
Licensees will need to have written conflicts management arrangements and records of how they manage their conflicts of interest.
They must also make appropriate disclosures to clients.
The appropriateness of the disclosure is judged on: the level of sophistication of the client; the extent to which other clients are also likely to rely, directly or indirectly on the service; how much the client already knows about the specific conflict; and the complexity of the service.
