Australian Securities and Investments Commission - PDF
Verified
Added on 2021/06/14
|6
|2168
|87
AI Summary
Contribute Materials
Your contribution can guide someone’s learning journey. Share your
documents today.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Padbury Mining Limited [2016] FCA 990 Case introduction Facts As per the facts, Padbury Mining Limited (Padbury) (1stDefendant) is a public company who shares are normally listed at the Australian Stock Exchange. The 1stdefendant aims at constructing and developing a deep water port at Oakajee and along with it an associated railway network. On 8thApril 2014, there were several contracts that were made by the 1stDefendant with several parties. One of the party to the contract was Superkite Pty Ltd (Superkite), which agreed to provide $6 billion to a subsidiary of Padbury provided there are few pre conditions which must be comply with by the 1stdefendant. The money was required for the funding of the construction of the Oakajee project. After 3 days, that is, 11thApril 2014, an announcement is made by the 1stDefendant at the ASX wherein it made a declaration that the company has acquired$6 billion for the development and construction of the Oakajee project, but, nothing was disclosed regarding the pre conditions that must be fulfilled by the company in order to secure the money from Superkite. Nothing was also disclosed regarding the entities that agreed to comply with the pre conditions as mentioned by Superkite. When all these proceedings were going on, at that time, the 2nd(Managing Director) and 3rd (executive director and chairman) defendant were the directors of the 1stdefendant and were part of the drafting of the funding announcement and the responsible for the release of the said announcement. The 1stdefendant also request ASX to halt the trading of the shares till the announcement is made which resulted in the increase of the trading of the shares from $0.02 per share to $0.045 a share. However, on 29thApril 2014, the agreement to secure funding was terminated, funds were never raised and the project was never constructed. Because of the above facts there were several duties that were violated. The duties which were violated are discussed below along with the reasons as to why the duties were violated. Theduties/responsibilitiesbreached(ex.CAsections181or588G)and explain why the duties were breached. As per the facts, the directors were authorized to make the disclosure but the acts of the directors are in violation of section 180 (1) and section 674 (2A) of the Corporation Act 2001. For 1stDefendant (Padbury Mining Limited)
Secure Best Marks with AI Grader
Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
I.That there is violation of Section 1041 H (1) of the Corporation Act 2001 Reasons That 1stdefendant has violated Section 1041 H (1) of the Corporation Act 2001. The violation is incurred because the defendant has procured the publication of the announcement that was made in the market by the Australian Stock Exchange on 11th April2014whichwasknownasОakajeeFundingAnnouncement.The announcement carries with it a secured funding representation that the 1stdefendant has attained funding of $6 billion which is required to build a deep water port and related rail network at Oakajee. However, the representation was misled and deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive. The deception is likely to deceive or mislead mainly because the representation that was made by the1stdefendant requires it has to comply with certain pre conditions which are likely not to be comply with by the its defendant. The inability of the defendant to comply with the conditions exists when the announcement was made. II.That pursuant to section 1317E, there is violation of sub section 674 (2) of the Corporation Act 2001. Reason That the 1stdefendant has not notified to the Australian Stock Exchange Limited any information regarding the funding pre conditions that the defendant is required to be comply with and that are mentioned under Paragraph 22 and 31 of the statement of claim. The information must be provided amid the date of release of the Oakajee Funding Announcements, that is, 9:40 am AEST and at or about 2:15 pm AEST on 11 April 2011. For 2ndDefendant (Gary Wayne Stokes) I.That pursuant to section 1317E, there is violation of sub section 674 (2) of the Corporation Act 2001. Reasons That the 2nddefendant was involved with the 1st defendant, when the contravention of sub section 674(2) was incurred by the 1st defendant. II.Violation of section 180 (1) of the Corporation act 2001 Reasons That the 2nddirector being associated as a director with the 1stdefendant was found to be in contravention of section 180 (1) of the corporation act 2001. The degree of care and skill that is required from the 2nddefendant wile complying with his duties are not met as what is expected from a normal prudent man. Te position, responsibilities and the duties that are associated with the post of theManaging Directorof the 1st defendant was not met by the 2nddefendant when compared with a normal prudent man. He approved and authorized the release of the Oakajee funding Announcement andthusresultedinallowingthe1tsdefendanttomakeaSecuredFunding Representation which is nothing but the violation of section 1041H of the corporation Act 2001. For 3rdDefendant (Terence Martin Quinn) I.That pursuant to section 1317E, there is violation of sub section 674 (2) of the Corporation Act 2001. Reasons
That the 3rddefendant was involved with the 1st defendant, when the contravention of sub section 674(2) was incurred by the 1st defendant. II.Violation of section 180 (1) of the Corporation act 2001 Reasons That the 3rddirector being associated as a director with the 1stdefendant was found to be in contravention of section 180 (1) of the corporation act 2001. The degree of care and skill that is required from the 2nddefendant wile complying with his duties are not met as what is expected from a normal prudent man. The position, responsibilities and the duties that are associated with the post of theExecutive Director and chairmanof the 1stdefendant was not met by the 2nddefendant when compared with a normal prudent man. He approved and authorized the release of the Oakajee funding Announcement and thus resulted in allowing the 1ts defendant to make a Secured Funding Representation which is nothing but the violation of section 1041H of the corporation Act 2001. DiscussandcriticallyANALYSEthecourt/tribunaldecisionandthereason for the decision in view of the Corporations Act. The decision of the Court tribunal The court makes the following order i.Against 2nddefendant – Taking into consideration section 1317G of the Corporation Act 2001, the 2nddefendant is found to be in violation of section 180 (1) ad section 674 (2A) of the Corporation Act and thus he must be penalized withpecuniary penalty for $25,000. He is also disqualified from the post of the Managing Director for 3 years from the date of the orders by applying section 206C ii.Against 3rddefendant – Taking into consideration section 1317G of the Corporation Act 2001, the 2nddefendant is found to be in violation of section 180 (1) ad section 674 (2A) of the Corporation Act and thus he must be penalized withpecuniary penalty for $25,000. He is also disqualified from managing the corporation for 3 years from the date of the orders by applying section 206C iii.Against 2ndand3rd Defendant – that both the defendant will pay the cots of the proceedings, that is, a fixed sum of$200,000. Reasons for the decisions of the court The decision is laid down on 19thAugust 2016 by Siopis J. I.Misleading conduct – The defendant admitted that the acts that are carried out by them were misleading and deceptive in conduct. It is admitted by the 1stdefendant that the publication that is made to ASX regarding the funding announcement actually makes the potential inventors to believe that the company has secured$6 billion to construct the Oakajee project which was not true. The representation was deceptive and misleading in nature because in reality in order to secure the funds the 1st
defendant needs to comply with certain conditions which were not discoed along with the announcement. Thus, the acts of the defendant were misleading and deceptive in conduct which resulted in the violation of the provisions of section 1041H the Corporation Act 2001 II.It is also admitted by the 2ndand 3rddefendant that their conduct through which they authored the publication to the ASX regarding the funding announcement was an act of deception and misleading the potential investors and thus are inviolation of the provisions of section 1041H the Corporation Act 2001. III.Section 674 (2) of the Corporation Act 2001 - The 1stDefendant along with 2ndand 3rd defendant agreed that section 674 (2) of the corporation Act 2001 was violated by them mainly when: a.It was agreed that the information that the 1stdefendant requires to comply with few pre conditions before securing findings from the third party was not made available to the public amid9:40 am to about 2:15 pm on 11 April 2014. This was the information which has the influence over the proposed investors before making their investment decisions and has a significant effect over the share price of the 1stdefendant company. Thereisanobligationonthe1stdefendantundersection674(2)ofthe Corporations Act and 3.1 of the ASX Listing Rules to bring such information in the notice of ASX which was not complying with which resulted in the violation of section 674 (2) of the Corporation Act 2001. b.That the 1stdefendant also not available any information regarding the party or the parties who are responsible for providing funding under the agreement and the non-disclosure has resulted in the violation of section 674 (2) of the Corporation Act 2001. IV.Section 180 (1) of the Corporation Act 2001 – the 2ndand 3rddefendant agreed that they are in violation of section 180 (1) of the Corporation Act 2001. They agreed that on 10thApril 2014 when the approval of the funding announcement at ASX was made then they must be aware that: a.non disclosure of all the information regarding the funding announcement will likely to deceive and mislead and which is untimely result in the violation of section 1041 H of the Corporation Act 2001. b.That if the misleading and deceptive acts of the defendant will be disclosed then it will hamper the good will of the company and will deteriorate its funding requirements. It will also result in litigation and regulatory actions against the company; c.That failure to disclose information as per section 674 of the Corporation Act is nothing but contravention of section 674 of the Act and will ultimately hamper the reputation of the business and will hamper its ability to raise finance for the project.
Paraphrase This Document
Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
d.That the defendants must be aware that no disclosure of the information regarding the funding requirements is nothing but failure on their part to act with careful and in diligent manner resulting in the violation of section 180 (1) of the Corporation Act 2001. The relevance of the decision to thedevelopment of Australian Corporations law or the impact of the decisionon the operation of companies in Australia After the decisionofAustralian Securities and Investments Commission v Padbury Mining Limited[2016] FCA 990, it is clear that responsibly is imposed on the managing director , executive director and chairman on the company that their acts must be such that does nit result in any kind of misleading and deceptive conduct. It is necessary that all relevant information must be provided by them in order to avoid any kind of breach under section 674 and section 180 of the corporation Act 2001.
Reference List Books/Articles/Journals Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Padbury Mining Limited[2016] FCA 990 < http://download.asic.gov.au/media/3985403/asic-v-padbury-mining-2016-fca-990.pdf>. Case law Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Padbury Mining Limited[2016] FCA 990