You can run but you can’t hide

The man who turned using the terms “disgraced” and “former police officer” together in the same sentence a cliché, disgraced former NSW police officer Roger “the dodger” Rogerson, may have alluded the best that the service that he epitomized for so long could throw at him, but he could not escape the clutches of our very own watchdog.

Just in case your collective memories need a bit of a jog, Rogerson was acquitted of conspiring with two criminals to do away with another police officer and had been suspected in the involvement of actually doing away with two members of the underworld scene. He was the type of heavy fuzz that rode rough shod over the NSW constabulary throughout the 1980’s and to those who had the pleasure of making his acquaintance, he is one very bad mofo.

Rogerson did eventually do a stretch in the big house for what many would call a comparatively piddling charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

But that obviously wasn’t enough for our very own boys (and gals) in blue, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Late last month the disgraced former police detective was convicted on two ASIC charges of managing a corporation while disqualified.

The rumour is that ASIC chairman David Knott and his crews have received much praise for their efficiency in putting the corporate shackles on the likes of The Dodger and his ilk, and are starting to register requests from a far a field as Afghanistan for their rather vociferous ability to lay down the law.

Of course, there is a message in this for all of us. The corporate bouncers at ASIC have also banned 25 odd people from acting as advisers or representatives this year alone and it seems there’s not much Knotty and the gang won’t sink their teeth into. You’ve been warned. Be afraid, be very afraid.