ASIC fines, bans Falcon builder

Falcon-based builder Laurence Vernon Burke has been sentenced at the Mandurah Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to lodging a document with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that contained a false and misleading statement.

Mr Burke was convicted and fined $600, as well as $313.20 costs, and was disqualified from managing a corporation for five years.

He is a director of Muruba Pty Ltd, which traded as Laurence Burke Homes.

The prosecution came about after ASIC received a complaint alleging Mr Burke signed and lodged an application to deregister his company while it was subject to legal proceedings. The ASIC form to de-register a company requires the applicant to make a number of declarations, including that the company is not subject to legal proceedings.

At the time Mr Burke applied to deregister Muruba, legal proceedings had commenced in the District Court of Western Australia after a balcony collapsed causing severe injury.

This matter was pursued by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.