Former chief executive of James Hardie, Peter Macdonald has been banned from managing a company for 15 years and fines $350,000 for breaching the Corporations Act.
The NSW Supreme Court ruled the former executive guilty of issuing a false and misleading statement about the company’s ability to fund asbestos compensation.
The NSW Supreme Court also handed down strong penalties to former James Hardie non-executive directors, Meredith Hellicar and former Telstra director Peter Willcox. They too were fined and banned from managing a company. The court handed down a $30,000 fine to each, and a five-year ban on running or managing a company.
Peter Shafron, the former general consul of James Hardie, was hit with a seven year band and fined $75,000, while former chief financial officer Phillip Morley was fined $35,000 and disqualified for five years.
The ruling comes after the former James Hardie officials were found guilty in April of breaching the Act for the creation of an asbestos compensation trust in 2001, and a corporate restructure in 2003.
Reader’s Digest bankrupt: Australia unaffected
Babcock & Brown in strife for breaching duties
