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The former chief executive and chief operating officer of a failed construction firm have been exonerated of all charges against them, including charges that allege they conspired to falsify books and records.
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Court clears CEO, COO of conspiracy charges
16 July 2019
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The New South Wales District Court has ordered a jury to enter verdicts of not guilty in relation to all charges against the chief executive officer and the former chief operating officer of a subsidiary of Hastie Group Limited, an ASX-listed company.
Joseph Carmec Farrugia, a former director and chief executive officer of Hastie Services Pty Limited, and Ian Athol Thompson, the former chief operating officer of Hastie Services, had each been charged with two counts of conspiracy to falsify the books and records of Hastie Services and one charge of conspiracy to give false or misleading information to an auditor.
Hastie Group and a number of its subsidiaries, including Hastie Services, were placed in external administration on 28 May 2012.
In 2017, the former chief financial officer of Hastie Services was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, to be served by way of an intensive correction order for conspiracy to falsify accounts.
A former finance manager of Hastie Services was also sentenced after pleading guilty to two charges of conspiracy to falsify the books and records of Hastie Services and one charge of conspiracy to give false or misleading information to an auditor.
ASIC had alleged that Mr Farrugia and Mr Thompson conspired with two other senior staff members of Hastie Services to make false entries into the books of the company to reduce the “gap” between the forecast earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) and the actual EBIT.
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The corporate regulator also alleged that they made false entries to conceal the true financial position of one of its branches and had provided auditors with false information to conceal all of the offences.
Yesterday, the NSW District Court directed the jury to enter verdicts of not guilty for Mr Farrugia and Mr Thompson in relation to the charge of conspiracy to falsify the books and records of Hastie Services, after it had directed the jury to do the same for the other charges in late June.
No reasons were supplied with the decision.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) prosecuted this matter.
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