Activist avoids jail

An Australian anti-coal campaigner who sent out a fake ANZ media release that caused a A$314 million (NZ$345m) slump in the sharemarket value of a mining company has been sentenced to one year and eight months in jail, but was immediately released. Jonathan Moylan, 26, of Newcastle, pleaded guilty in May to a charge of disseminating false information to the market. In the New South Wales Supreme Court, Justice David Davies sentenced Moylan but ordered that he be immediately released on a two-year good behaviour bond. Justice Davies said it was an ‘‘unusual’’ and ‘‘unique’’ case, because Moylan’s motive was not financial gain, but to generate publicity surrounding ANZ’s support for mining projects. In January last year he issued a media release purportedly from the bank, announcing its withdrawal of a billion-dollar loan facility to Whitehaven Coal.