ASIC creates legal immunity escape hatch
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has broken new ground by providing scope for people to be granted immunity for dobbing in market misconduct to the regulator.
ASIC has released an “immunity policy” which it says covers certain contraventions of the Corporations Act, which includes serious offences such as market manipulation, insider trading and dishonest conduct in the course of carrying on a financial services business.
It will allow people to seek immunity from both civil and criminal proceedings by helping ASIC identify and take enforcement action against specific markets and financial services breaches.
Under the policy, immunity will only be available to the first individual who satisfies the immunity criteria and reports the misconduct to ASIC prior to commencement of an investigation into the conduct.
However, ASIC said individuals who did not meet the criteria for immunity were still encouraged to cooperate with ASIC and would be given due credit for any cooperation received.
It said it would not be providing immunity from any administrative or compensation actions.
“Any cooperation provided by an individual will be considered in determining whether to take administrative action against the individual,” ASIC said.
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