Adelaide adviser avoids jail term
A former Adelaide investment adviser closely escaped a two year jail term yesterday following 62 charges brought by theAustralian Securities and Investments Commission(ASIC), while a bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of his former partner.
Ian William Snook, the former principal of Golconda Resources, appeared in the District Court and escaped two years imprisonment by entering into a $1,000 two year good behaviour bond.
The case has led ASIC director of enforcement Mark Steward to warn investors that “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true”.
Snook was charged for promoting investments directly into the failed Queensland investment scheme the Wattle Group via Golconda Resources.
ASIC alleged that between October 1995 and April 1998, Snook arranged for clients to directly deposit $1,012,775 into the Wattle Group, while also pooling more than $2.5 million of investors’ funds which were then paid into the Wattle Group.
Snook, who was a partner in Golconda Resources, earned commissions of approximately $240,000 from the funds paid to the Wattle Group.
ASIC also previously laid charges against Snook’s former partner, Mark Alan Taylor, in relation to the same matter.
A bench warrant has now been issued by the District Court for Taylor’s arrest, who was committed for trial in July 2001.
“These investments promised unrealistically high returns of up to 50 per cent. These kinds of promised returns almost inevitably result in losses,” Steward says.
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