LAW – AUSTRALIA – CASES

Glencore beats ATO in transfer pricing battle

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by John Durie
The Australian – Page: 20 : 4-Sep-19

The Australian Taxation Office may appeal a Federal Court ruling in favour of mining giant Glencore over a transfer pricing dispute. The case centred on the price that Glencore’s offshore trading arm paid for copper from its Cobar mine in New South Wales. The ATO contended that the transaction should have been done at arm’s length. The ruling may have implications for other transfer pricing investigations being undertaken by the ATO.

CORPORATES
GLENCORE PLC, GLENCORE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Watchdog takes aim at Medibank as patients denied payments

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 4-Sep-19

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has launched legal action against Medibank Private, accusing the health insurer of making false representations about the benefits covered by its policies. It will be alleged that Medibank had wrongly advised customers that its AHM Lite and Boost policies did not cover medical procedures such as knee reconstructions and spinal surgery. ACCC chairman Rod Sim says this forced many policyholders to delay necessary surgery.

CORPORATES
MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, AHM HEALTH INSURANCE, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

ABC loses bid to see federal police reasons for search warrant

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 21-Aug-19

The Federal Court has ruled that the ABC had no "proper basis" for its claim that the Australian Federal Police failed to consider public policy factors when it applied for a warrant to search the public broadcaster’s Sydney offices in June. These factors included the protection of journalists’ sources and the implied freedom of political communication in the Constitution. The ABC is seeking to have the AFP’s warrant declared invalid and return of documents that were seized in the raid.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

ASIC to sue big banks in weeks

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by John Durie
The Australian – Page: 17 : 19-Aug-19

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s deputy chairman Daniel Crennan says it will shortly commence legal action against the four major banks, plus AMP and Macquarie Group. He adds that ASIC is still working on 13 matters that were referred to it by the Hayne royal commission, as well as a further 39 matters that were examined by the inquiry. Meanwhile, ASIC’s latest enforcement update shows that it accepted just one court-enforceable undertaking in the first half of 2019, compared with nine in the second half of 2018. ASIC’s reluctance to pursue litigation came under scrutiny by royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Banks face more Hayne pain: ASIC

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 17 : 29-Jul-19

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has launched about 25 cases against banks in the wake of the financial services royal commission. ASIC commissioner Sean Hughes says further legal action is pending, and he says it is possible that further misconduct and wrongdoings in the financial sector will emerge. Hughes adds that banks are starting to take their obligation to submit breach reports in a timely manner a lot more seriously following the royal commission.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

ASIC sues ANZ over $50m unlawful customer fees

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Samantha Bailey
The Australian – Page: 24 : 26-Jul-19

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has filed Federal Court action against the ANZ Bank, alleging that periodic payment fees that some 460,000 customers paid between August 2003 and February 2016 were unlawful. ASIC will contend that the bank failed to disclose the fact that the fees may have been illegal until January 2014, despite being made aware of the issue in mid-2011. Affected customers were not informed until September 2015, and ANZ did not begin compensating them until August 2016. ANZ has indicated that it will "vigorously defend" the civil lawsuit.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Morgans knew of problems at branch

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Liam Walsh
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 5-Jul-19

Stockbroker Morgans is the subject of dozens of law suits from clients; over 20 of them are targeting Morgans and David Wilkins, the former head of its branch at Springwood in Queensland. Some clients of Morgans have claimed that they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of advice they received from Morgans’ Springwood office. An email sent in 2009 that is contained in one of the lawsuits against Morgans indicates that its senior management were aware that there were problems at the office, but the fir did not advise clients about its concerns.

CORPORATES
MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED, SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

MUA’s challenge to enterprise agreement with VICT thrown out

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 3-Jul-19

A spokesman for Victorian International Container Terminal says the company is likely to seek costs against the Maritime Union of Australia after a court dismissed a challenge to its enterprise agreement. The legal challenge was mounted by dock worker Richard Lunt, but the Federal Court’s Justice Darryl Rangiah ruled that he was a ‘front man’ for the MUA, and that the case was an abuse of process. VICT’s Webb Dock terminal in Melbourne was unlawfully picketed by the MUA in late 2017.

CORPORATES
VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL PTY LTD, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

CFMEU battles developer of Adelaide tower

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 2-Jul-19

The militant Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union alleges that property developer Kyren Group prevented union organisers from entering a building site to investigate workplace safety issues. The CFMMEU claims that the company’s actions constituted ‘unlawful picket action’ under laws introduced by the Coalition in 2016. The union’s statement of claim in the Federal Court also alleges that the site manager’s behaviour made the organisers feel ‘intimidated and threatened’.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, KYREN GROUP, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

News takes AFP raid fight to High Court

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 25-Jun-19

The ABC and News Corp Australia will both challenge the constitutional validity of the Australian Federal Police’s recent media raids. The ABC will ask the Federal Court to rule that the AFP’s warrant was invalid on a number of grounds, including that it infringed the public broadcaster’s implied right of political communication. News Corp Australia will use similar arguments in the High Court; it will also seek confirmation from the AFP that it is no longer investigating the media group itself or journalist Annika Smethurst.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE, AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE