Making Up the Numbers

The whistleblower who exposed three months of unauthorised trading that lost NAB up to $180 million may have a nervous wait before the CLERP 9 amendments to the Corporation Act offer full 'whistleblower' protection. The draft Bill, due for debate early this year, proposes that those who report suspected breaches of the Corporations Act be protected against criminal and civil liability, defamation, termination of contract, and victimisation. On another front, the draft Bill also proposes tighter controls in areas where fraud is most likely to occur, namely the areas in companies' books that require estimating and/or managerial discretion.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Police brought in to tackle bank scandal

National Australia Bank called in the Australian Federal Police last night to formally investigate the currency trading scandal that cost the bank up to $180 million.

Full story: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/14/1073877900381.html

NAB top brass cop the blame

SOME of National Australia Bank's biggest stakeholders yesterday laid the blame for its rogue trading scandal squarely at the feet of the board and senior management as analysts

Full story: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8391695%255E643,00.html

ASIC pushes full disclosure

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has pulled up 46 companies after identifying problems including potential conflicts of interest in documents sent to shareholders.

Full story: http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/01/08/1073437411132.html

Packer/Murdoch To Give More Evidence About One.Tel Collapse

SYDNEY, Jan 14 Asia Pulse - James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch will be asked to give more evidence about the collapse of junior telco One.Tel as a new investigation is launched.

Full story: http://au.news.yahoo.com//040113/3/n9ut.html

ASIC case will test One.Tel solvency issue

BEFORE the court-appointed special purpose liquidator to the failed telco One.Tel gets around to interviewing former directors, including the high-profile James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch, it may be prudent to first determine whether there really is anything to investigate.

Full story: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8391693%255E16941,00.html

Telstra To Send 450 Software Jobs To India: Report

Telstra has struck a deal to send 450 software jobs to India in the biggest example yet of sending skilled Australian jobs to low-wage countries.

Full story: http://au.news.yahoo.com//040113/3/n9to.html

Nest-egg billions lost by default

A super year for pension funds added double-digit growth to millions of employees' retirement income but highlights a possible $91 billion of returns they will forgo because of unsuitably conservative investment strategies.

Full story: http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/01/07/1073437345759.html

ANZ boss on pay cut recovery trail

ANZ chief executive John McFarlane has been thrown a lifeline by the bank's board to recover the big pay cut he took last year in the form of an options deal on one million bank shares that is already in the money.

Full story: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8375739%255E643,00.html

Humphry cashes in $1m ASX

Without explanation, Australian Stock Exchange chief executive Richard Humphry sold one-fifth of his $5 million ASX shareholding at the start of 2004, just one week after the exchange's share price hit an all-time high.

Full story: http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2004/01/13/1073877829579.html

Tweed sues blind, deaf woman, 88

After a disastrous year in the courts, money-hungry share scammer David Tweed has again turned to the law to help him.

Full story: http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2004/01/13/1073877828329.html

Scam victims seek aid from US

Australian victims who lost up to $200 million in sophisticated tele-sales investment scams - or boiler rooms - are attempting to get their money back by taking their case to the US Securities and Exchange Commission amid claims the local regulator is dragging its feet.

Full story: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8366840%255E643,00.html

Can your boss do your job?

Think your boss doesn't really know what you do all day? Chances are you're not alone.

Full story: http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2004/01/12/1073877758856.html

INTERNATIONAL

Probe finds $13 billion in dodgy dealings

An auditors' report on Parmalat's financial health has allegedly uncovered $US10 billion ($12.9 billion) of bogus operations at the troubled Italian dairy group.

Full story: http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2004/01/13/1073877829968.html

Watchdogs will probe Grasso payout

State and federal regulators in the US said they would investigate Richard Grasso's $US188 million ($243.5 million) compensation package and decide whether to sue the former New York Stock Exchange chief.

Full story: http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2004/01/09/1073437472898.html

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

They said it. Did they mean it?

Quotes collected by Chris Twyman of the Sydney Morning Herald.

It really is a brand name that ranks alongside McDonald's and Coca-Cola.

Lloyd's of London's Lord Levene applies the burgers and burp juice analogy to the venerable insurance company.

A bit like Lennox Lewis picking on a kid playing on the jungle gym.

Kevin "Big Kev" McQuay gives the seedings for a group of angry shareholders anxious to tip him off the board of his cleaning products company. It's a jungle out there and they were the kids.

Cleaning used to be a chore for housewives, it's now become a pleasure.

Kevin McQuay mentions something for such ladies to get excited about.

There's a great deal of consternation about that across the country. In my view that is a severe threat to democracy.

Wisconsin Democrat David Obey resists the charm of the media mogul for a comment on the US media bill which would have let Rupert Murdoch enlarge his Fox Broadcasting Network.

Based on some of the stories I've seen, I can understand why the people being interviewed are in the entertainment industry, because they're pure fiction.

Chief US negotiator in free trade talks, Ralph Ives, rewrites the script, insisting America is not seeking the elimination of local television content rules, contrary to popular belief.

[After taking legal advice] there are no concerns raised about conduct, as distinct from people losing money.

Macquarie Bank executive chairman David Clarke puts in a clear-conscience vote regarding the millionaire factory's role in the failed Nardell Colliery in the Hunter Valley.

What do they say? Bum up, head down. No drama.

Warwick Susskind, a director at fashion chain Table Eight, shows some cheek by saying it's business as usual after creditors accepted a scheme to return 10c in the dollar.

The fact is the US cannot afford to have a $US550 billion deficit year in and year out. It is unsustainable. The only way to re-establish balance is to have the dollar depreciate against a basket of currencies.

Newmont Mining president Pierre Lassonde suggests it's time for the buck to drop here, there and everywhere.

We have informed ASIC of the situation. We said to ASIC there were certain misleading documents out there . . . and we have left it in their hands.

Billabong International denies there was a leak after sensitive company papers found their way into the hands of analysts.

When we started the year we saw coming over the horizon some dark clouds, some thunder clouds. I'm pretty pleased to say that most of those thunder clouds have subsided and we can see a fair degree of blue sky in front of us.

With the NextGen disaster behind him, Leighton chief executive Wal King keeps a keen eye on the weather.

It's bank robbery without arms.

An irate shareholder in BankWest finds the attempt to stop HBOS's takeover of the WA bank has no legs.

The question is whether he's presumed guilty. I don't think he believes in any way it's his fault.

Pan Pharmaceuticals suitor Fred Bart gives his prescription for company founder Jim Selim.

We presented our proposal and at the end of that process last week we were told we had secured the deal. Today we were told by [ninemsn chief executive] Martin Hoffman, in his words, that it was a deal he couldn't do. When we asked why, he said, 'You can work that out for yourself'.

John Fairfax commercial director Alan Revell reacts to the company being dumped from a potentially lucrative online deal after the perceived intervention of Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting.

We've got one of the biggest feedlots in the state, we've got timber mills and trees. We are one of the country's largest private owners of pine plantations. Over 80 years, a family builds up a lot of non-electrical stuff. Everybody had a dabble.

Gerard Industries chairman Rob Gerard points out there's still a bit of action in the back room after the family's Clipsal electrical wiring and fittings operation sold in a deal valuing it at about $750 million.

It does create noise in the system that we could have done without. All of the stuff being trudged through the press is ancient history.

Downer managing director Stephen Gillies's train of thought as State Rail said it would refuse to accept any more faulty Millennium carriages.

I think it a hypothetical question that I can't answer.

Brambles chief executive Sir CK Chow when asked about tendering his resignation if there were any further profit downgrades. The question, in fact, was merely one of time.

You can have a goldmine but if you haven't got a shovel, it doesn't matter.

Big Kev decides to dig himself out of a sales problem by moving to direct retailing. He complained his cleaning products were hard to find in the shops.

There are leaders in this world and there are people who follow. I have led all my life . . . sometimes it's hard and sometimes it's very gratifying, but you do not walk away from a bunfight. You stand tall; you do your very, very darndest.

Big Kev shows there's no room for soft suds if you want to clean up.

It's a brave person who says, four or five years from now, that Foxtel isn't going to be one of the most profitable and significant media companies in Australia.

Publishing and Broadcasting executive chairman James Packer sees a better picture for the loss-incurring pay TV group. It is also a brave man who says, now, that it is going to be.

The wine industry is a mixture of marketing, emotions and intuition.

McGuigan Simeon Wines's Brian McGuigan unveils a record profit and the surprise acquisition of Miranda Wines. Many can sense getting a bit emotional after a few drops.

[James Murdoch] has had a fantastic and successful career in pay television to date.

Lachlan Murdoch goes into bat for bro'. James got the gig at BSkyB, despite considerable opposition.

That [BSkyB] board is cosy to the point of incestuousness. You can't even see what the ties are, or if they exist. But it's behaviour that determines independence and if they vote for James, they're not independent.

Nell Minnow, co-founder of corporate governance research firm the Corporate Library, throws the book at the BSkyB shenanigans.

For further information

Contact:   Chris Owen
Email:   c.owen@labor.org.au