While employers cannot force employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine, law firms are launching campaigns to encourage staff to sign up for the jab.
A communications device was planted on an unarmed Afghan villager who was allegedly murdered by former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, a court overseeing the accused war criminal’s defamation trial has heard.
Canberra has been floated as a potential new venue for the trial in former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation case as Sydney’s COVID-19 outbreak worsens, but a judge has said moving the hearing created “real difficulties”.
A judge has issued an ultimatum to Forum Finance director Bill Papas for his “entirely unsatisfactory” conduct in failing to provide details of personal assets while defending three lawsuits that accuse him of being behind a $400 million fraud.
Administrators have lined up a buyer for a Forum Group entity, as a first creditors meeting confirms Westpac has the largest claim to any recoveries after an alleged $400 million fraud by the equipment leasing company.
Media company Nine, which is facing defamation claims from Ben Roberts-Smith over articles accusing him of war crimes, has asked the court to set aside two subpoenas from the decorated veteran related to a woman who has accused him of domestic violence, arguing the subpoenas act as a substitute for discovery.
With $254 million at stake, Westpac wants a court order blocking the business partner of Forum Group founder Bill Papas from leaving Australia, as Papas remains in Greece while fraud allegations swirl.
Thorn Group is the latest lender ensnared in an alleged $400 million fraud by Forum Finance, with potential funds of up to $2.2 million tied up in the collapsed equipment leasing firm.
Four witnesses who allegedly saw Ben Roberts-Smith kick a handcuffed man off a cliff in Afghanistan will give evidence next week in the war veteran’s defamation trial, which has been disrupted by COVID-19 restrictions in NSW.
The director of the Forum Group companies accused of a $360 million fraud involving at least three major banks can’t return to Australia from Greece because he has COVID-19, his lawyer has told the Federal Court.