ASIC continues crusade against early super release

By Mike Taylor

The Australian Securities andInvestments Commission (ASIC) has again moved successfully against the promoter of an illegal early release of superannuation scheme.

ASIC has obtained orders in the Queensland Supreme Court banning Richard Clayton Sharland, the director of Comcash Australasia, following declarations he and an agent of Comcash, Michael John Muckan, operated unregistered investment schemes and carried on a financial services business without holding an Australian Financial Services Licence.

ASIC also obtained orders winding-up any schemes operated under the names of Comcash Australasia or SMC Corporation, or similar names.

The Court ordered that Comcash, Sharland and Muckan be permanently restrained form promoting or operating the Comcash managed investment schemes, and from providing any financial services in relation to superannuation interests or holding out that they are able to provide such financial services.

The orders followed declarations that Sharland:

n made statements which were materially misleading;

n induced other people to deal in financial products by making or causing statements to be made recklessly as to whether or not the statements were misleading; and

n breached an enforceable undertaking he entered into with ASIC in April, 2002.

ASIC says Comcash was involved in the promotion of an early release of super scheme, which approached investors to invest their superannuation in a joint venture with SMC Corporation in the Commonwealth of Dominica, through their own self-managed superannuation funds, on the promise of returns of between 6 and 11 per cent a year.

Investors were advised they could access their superannuation funds through cheap loans from SMC Corporation, typically at 2.5 per cent for 25 years with all funds deposited into an account called SMC Australia which was operated by Sharland and Muckan.

ASIC alleges Comcash received more than $1 million from 61 investors, with no joint venture being found to exist in the Commonwealth of Dominica and with most investors not receiving the loans they expected.