“The next chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has come a long way since his days working as a commercial lawyer for the firm representing failed tycoon Alan Bond.
As a partner at Parker & Parker, Bond’s main legal representative, Joseph Longo told The Australian Financial Review in 1992 the Perth law firm had a “sizeable team” of solicitors working for Bond Corp. He was one of them.”
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The head of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, Jo Longo used to work as a solicitor for Alan Bond, one of Australia’s biggest corporate criminals.
It beggars belief Longo was ever appointed the head of the regulator to deal with corporate crime.
He is on record as pushing back against introducing measures to track down on corporate crime saying:
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“Joseph Longo, partner at Parker and Parker in Perth, told a conference on regulatory enforcement that the ASC’s push to remove “derivative use immunity” would remove people’s right not to incriminate themselves.
ASC chairman Tony Hartnell earlier told the conference that the immunity against prosecution “has caused serious difficulties in conducting efficient and cost effective investigations.”
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I don’t talk enough about ASIC, but I should. They consistently fail to respond early and effectively to reports of alleged misconduct by conducting proper investigations and enforcing the law.
Thousands of of Australians have been swindled by white collar crime and ASIC does nothing about it.
It’s not just the bureaucracy and the judiciary that needs to be cleaned up. Corporations need a thorough clean out as well.
A good start would be getting someone new to lead ASIC. A recent senate report found:
“the “Senate” committee has “uncovered the dire state of ASIC”, saying the regulator is an organisation “without transparency, few prosecutions, and a litany of cultural, structural and governance issues”.
One example includes:
“Hundreds of failed construction companies are suspected of insolvent trading, but not one has been prosecuted by the watchdog responsible for holding them to account.
The latest figures show three in four — 682 out of 919 — that folded in the 2021-22 financial year alone were suspected of insolvent trading, according to initial reports lodged by external administrators with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Despite the figures, an ASIC spokesperson admitted no criminal or civil action had ever been taken against a builder or construction company director in Australia over the misconduct.”
Quotes from:
From Alan Bond to Deutsche Bank: meet ASIC’s new boss | AFR.com
‘ASIC has failed’: Senate committee releases final report | ifa.com.au
The head of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, Jo Longo
