Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chairman, Greg Medcraft, was wrong to call for heavier penalties for corporate and financial crime when the regulator has failed to adequately use the powers already available to it, according to the Victims of Financial Fraud (VOFF) group.
The group has issued a statement in which it condemns Medcraft, ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) over their failures with respect to the Trio/Astarra collapse and the legislative and regulatory tools they sought to use to pursue the culprits.
"The abysmal failure of ASIC and APRA to protect superannuation trustee and superannuation fund members from the Trio Capital and Astarra Strategic Fund fraud highlights the current deficiencies in the protective regulatory system," the VOFF statement said. "The failure of the regulators to protect the superannuation market and bring the perpetrators to justice was an operational and personnel failure of the regulator for which Commission Chairman Medcraft should be held responsible."
Referring to the penalties handed out to those involved in the Trio/Astarra collapse, VOFF spokesman, Paul Matters claimed a dole cheat in Australia was likely to get a heavier sentence "than the perpetrator of the worst superannuation fraud in Australia's history".
"This outrage was entirely due to the decision of ASIC to opt for the lightest sentencing regime for financial crime," he said. "Chairman Medcraft has learnt nothing and forgotten everything in regard to the Astarrra Strategic Fund and Trio Capital fraud."
"Now he wants to concentrate on financial advice regulation when the obvious failure in regard to these monumental financial crimes was the operational and personnel failure of ASIC," Matters said. "Medcraft wants to regulate the travel agents selling tickets on the Titanic as the Australian financial system is sailing in the treacherous waters of transnational fraud."
