www.LawFuel.co.nz – The NZ Law Jobs and Legal NewsWire – Melbourne sharetrader, Mr Peter Robert Woodland, has been sentenced in the County Court of Victoria to 18 months imprisonment, fully suspended, to be of good behaviour for two years, after pleading guilty on Friday 16 November 2007 to one count of insider trading and one count of communicating inside information to other persons. The charges were brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Mr Woodland, of Frankston, Victoria, pleaded guilty to acquiring 584,000 shares in Western Australian mining company, Kanowna Consolidated Gold Mines Limited (Kanowna) while possessing information that was not generally available and was expected to have a material effect on the value of the Kanowna securities. The shares were acquired in multiple transactions at a cost of $27,000 between 28 November and 5 December 2003. Kanowna is now known as Andean Resources Limited.
Mr Woodland also pleaded guilty to one count of communicating inside information to other persons via the internet between 24 November and 7 December 2003, at a time when the information was not generally available to the public and when he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, those persons would be likely to apply for or acquire Kanowna shares.
ASIC alleged that Mr Woodland was in possession of inside information prior to an announcement to the market by Kanowna on 10 December 2003 regarding Kanowna’s acquisition of the Cerro Negro gold mine project in Argentina. The price of Kanowna shares rose by over 100 per cent as a result of this information.
Mr Woodland came into possession of the inside information when he provided consulting computer services to Kanowna.
The matter was referred to ASIC by the Australian Securities Exchange.
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
