Lawyer avoids jail over lies

A LAWYER involved with a failed hostile takeover bid by listed Gold Coast childcare giant G8 Education has avoided jail after being sentenced for lying under oath to the corporate regulator.

Mary-Anne Greaves, 53, who now lives at Mount Sheridan near Cairns, pleaded guilty in February to one count of giving false or misleading information to ASIC.

In Brisbane Magistrates’ Court, she was discharged without conviction upon entering a $5000 two-year good behaviour bond.

Magistrate Walter Ehrich indicated Greaves’s potential sentence had been reduced because she had helped authorities in their prosecution of others, adding that otherwise a six-month suspended sentence would have been appropriate.

The maximum penalty for the charge is two years’ jail and a $21,000 fine, however when the case is heard by a Magistrates Court the maximum is 12 months jail and a $7800 fine.

Greaves was examined as part of ASIC’s probe of G8’s attempt to buy out rival childcare company Affinity Education in July 2015.

In October, 2015, the Takeovers Panel made a declaration of unacceptable circumstances in relation to the takeover bids.

The charge against Greaves arose after she falsely denied to ASIC, under oath, that she been given information about the acquisition of Affinity shares by West Bridge at the time of the G8 takeover bid.

The Takeovers Panel found that three parties involved in the failed takeover bid had links with former G8 Education chairwoman Jenny Hutson, an alleged breach of corporations law. Ms Hutson has vowed to fight 30 charges laid against her, including two of attempting to pervert the course of justice which carry a maximum 10 years’ jail.