Why did ASIC refuse to act against the Promissory Note Spruikers in 2000?  All Commissioners attended a meeting in 2000 re Westpoint, but no action was taken.  This latest part of the saga is cold comfort to the 3000 investors who lost a total of $380 million in 2005 - all could have been spared the agony!  ASIC called for a report in 2003 and permitted these activities to continue.  What type of consumer protection is that?  And what type of pills were they all on?  So the media made loud noises and finally ASIC took some action but only after t$380 million of retiree Mums and Dads money had evaporated along with their modest retirement plans.  Shame on you ASIC.

Westpoint boss Norm Carey loses second appeal

·         AAP

·         AUGUST 28, 2013 2:30PM

THE former boss of the collapsed Westpoint group has lost his second appeal against convictions for making misrepresentations about a residential property development in Perth.

After a three-week trial in early 2011, Norm Carey was found guilty of five counts of misleading buyers of units in the Regent Apartments development in Rivervale in 2005 by falsely informing them that there had been indefinite delays to the project due to planning approvals.

The purchasers terminated their contracts of sale, then the units were re-sold at a higher price within a relatively short period of time.

Carey's appeal in January last year was dismissed, with the Supreme Court of Western Australia's Justice Michael Murray deeming the former Westpoint's director evidence "untruthful'', saying he was in a position to influence the conduct of the company's agents - who made the misrepresentations - and could have prevented the offences.

Carey then took his case to the Court of Appeal, but that bid was also unsuccessful.

On Wednesday, three judges unanimously said Justice Murray was correct to conclude Carey had failed to establish a defence available to him, namely that he could not by the exercise of reasonable diligence have prevented the commission of the offences.

"The facts in this case are not contentious, in the sense that there is no ground of appeal which challenges any finding of fact made by the magistrate,'' Chief Justice Wayne Martin said.

Westpoint was convicted of the same five offences.

Sentencing was delayed pending the appeal.

 AAP