The banks and executives at the centre of a landmark criminal cartel case can question four ACCC investigators and witnesses from JP Morgan at an upcoming committal hearing, with a magistrate saying Friday there were “substantial reasons in the interests of justice” to allow the cross-examination.
Mobility equipment provider Country Care Group will fight for the dismissal of three charges brought by federal prosecutors in the country’s first criminal cartel case against an Australian business.
An investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has come under fire by the banks and directors targeted in a criminal case over alleged cartel conduct that claim the regulator “contaminated” key evidence and improperly used material supplied by ASIC.
Lawyers for former Citigroup executive Stephen Roberts have complained that prosecutors have failed to provide a “shred of material” to explain his alleged involvement in a criminal cartel relating to ANZ’s $2.5 billion capital raising, as the defendants fight to grill Crown witnesses before trial.
Japanese shipping company K-Line has been hit with a $34.5 million penalty for criminal cartel conduct, the largest consumer criminal fine in Australian history.
A six-week trial set to start in October in the cartel case against mobility equipment provider Country Care Group has been vacated and rescheduled to next year, as the judge overseeing the case quipped that he was either the “canary or the guinea pig” in the landmark criminal proceeding.
Prosecutors will oppose a bid by ANZ, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank to cross-examine witnesses at the upcoming committal hearing of the criminal cartel case over ANZ’s botched $2.5 billion institutional share placement.
Country Care Group has criticised the DPP for the “argumentative” tone of the notice setting out its criminal cartel case against the mobility equipment provider, and has secured an order for further clarity from prosecutors.
Charges in the criminal cartel case against ANZ, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank over a $2.5 billion ANZ institutional share placement have yet to be finalised, almost a year after the proceeding was filed.
The Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions has told the Federal Court it will “very significantly” reduce the number of criminal charges laid against mobility equipment supplier Country Care Group as the landmark cartel case heads to trial in October.