Courtesy - www.theage.com.au
Thursday, 20 August 2009
The penalties and bans handed down to former James Hardie executives and directors today are not enough considering the extent of their immoral and illegal behavior and the harm the company’s deadly asbestos products have caused, say unions.
Justice Gzell of the New South Wales Supreme Court has today handed down fines and bans from directorships to the former board of James Hardie for misleading and deceptive statements made earlier this decade.
Unions have expressed disappointment that the financial penalties were well short of those sought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence said: “It is important for the victims of James Hardie’s asbestos products that justice was done but these penalties will provide them with little comfort.
“The former directors betrayed the trust of innocent victims of the company’s products by deliberately lying about James Hardie’s ability to meet its compensation liabilities.
“While we welcome the disqualifications given to the former directors, the financial penalties are inappropriate for the magnitude of the breaches of their duties.”
Former chief executive Peter Macdonald has been fined $350,000 and disqualified from company management for 15 years. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission had sought a fine of between $1.47 million and $1.81 million. Former chairwoman Meredith Hellicar and other non-executive directors have been fined $30,000 and disqualified for five years.
The penalties relate to a case brought against the former James Hardie directors by ASIC earlier this year, which successfully argued the former directors had breached the Corporations Act by approving in 2001 a media release that contained misleading and deceptive comments about the company’s ability to meet asbestos compensation liabilities.
The union movement will continue to focus on ensuring current James Hardie management does its utmost to ease the suffering of asbestos sufferers.
On Tuesday, it was revealed the company will make only minimal contributions to the compensation fund for this year and next, as it moves its corporate headquarters from the Netherlands to Ireland.
Unions NSW Secretary Mark Lennon said: “While today’s decision may provide some comfort to asbestos victims, it does not ease their suffering”.
“Australian unions will pursue every legal and political avenue possible to ensure James Hardie keeps the Asbestos Injury Compensation Fund viable.”
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union NSW Secretary Paul Bastian said: “This decision exposes the extraordinary lengths the James Hardie company went to avoid its obligations to asbestos sufferers.
“The lesson from the penalties handed down today is that unions and the Australian community will always hold to account company executives and directors who engage in this sort of immoral and illegal behavior. We will never let them off the hook for the damage they have done.”
