Unsuccessful appeal sees former KLA director disqualified
Former KLA Australia Investments director Christopher Fearon has failed in his appeal of the disqualification charge brought against him by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has upheld APRA’s decision to disqualify Fearon from being a trustee, investment manager or custodian of a superannuation entity and as an approved auditor.
In 2005, APRA disqualified Fearon, as it had done with his fellow directors Peter Guild, Maris Neimanis, Ian Thomson and Glenn Wall a year earlier for failing to provide it with annual returns and for breaching legal requirements, in house asset rules and member disclosure requirements as well as for not maintaining minutes of meetings.
The tribunal determined that Fearon had not met obligations placed on him as a director of KLA, the trustee of the KLA Australia Superannuation Fund, and that he had performed audits on the fund even though he was not independent.
It also found he had tried to deceive APRA and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission with documents that said he had resigned as trustee director in 2001.
APRA has appointed an acting trustee to wind up the fund.
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