The Trio Capital Limited fraud case should not have been closed without the government disclosing what information it relied on to reach that decision, according to a groups of investors.
The Victims of Financial Fraud Inc. (VOFF) group has vehemently opposed the federal government’s decision, saying it was concerned over whether the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had the appropriate skills and resources in forensic accountancy and criminal investigation to be capable of carrying out such an investigation.
“How many examples of ASIC failings do VOFF need to provide before the government concedes that they got it wrong regarding the financial regulators carrying out their roles and responsibilities appropriately?” the group said in a statement, and questioned whether the Australian Federal Police should have carried out the investigation.
VOFF pointed to several failings by ASIC in regards to the Trio investigation including, ASIC selectively providing evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee Inquiry into the collapse of Trio, overlooking vital information, and failing to question the directors of funds where $70 million disappeared and details of company where ASIC had subpoenaed 100,000 documents from Hong Kong that assisted in the tax fraud case against the Commonwealth were already on ASIC’s database but ASIC failed to notice.
VOFF noted that the federal government announced $127.2 million in funding for ASIC in 2016.
“Australians expect integrity and transparency of ASIC’s role to protect Australian investments, including superannuation,” VOFF said.
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