Regulators

Pharmaceutical ingredient producer Alkaloids of Australia has pleaded guilty to cartel conduct over the supply of a key chemical found in generic stomach cramp drugs.

A judge has expressed hesitation about a $750,000 penalty proposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in its misleading advertisement case against $5.15 billion credit fund La Trobe Financial Asset Management, calling the amount “very, very modest”.

Eight companies in the Dubai-based Emirates Group have lost a court bid to recoup more than $10.5 million paid to Australian staff during the COVID-19 pandemic on the mistaken belief that the money would be repaid as part of the federal government’s JobKeeper subsidy scheme.

Woolworths has agreed to pay $1.75 million in Adero Law’s legal costs as part of a settlement of an underpayments class action which will see group members recoup any amounts they are owed in a separate proceeding brought by the Fair Work Ombudsman rather than the class action.

The High Court has rejected Volkswagen’s special leave application to challenge a record $125 million penalty for selling cars with a defeat device that allowed them to cheat on emissions tests.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has hit beleaguered mining firm Griffin Coal with criminal charges over its alleged failure to lodge annual financial reports for 2019 and 2020.

Logistics company GetSwift says it is considering an appeal of an 859-page judgment which lambasted the company and its directors’ “public relations-driven approach” to announcements on the Australian Stock Exchange.

One of the world’s leading audio branding companies has agreed to amend its contract terms, which penalised customers for cancelling within a 42-day period of their contract ending, following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has scored a victory in its long-running case against GetSwift, with the Federal Court finding the company and its directors breached the Corporations Act and ASIC Act through their “public relations-driven approach” to announcements on the Australian Stock Exchange.

A judge said he “gagged” at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s proposed $5 million pecuniary penalty in its case against specialist workplace relations company Employsure over six misleading Google ads.