Monday 5 March 2007 LAWFUEL – Australia Law – Mr David Christopher Novak, also known as David Jovcevski, of Richmond, NSW, was convicted and sentenced in the Sydney Central Local Court on Wednesday 28 February 2007 to nine months imprisonment for his failure to comply with the conditions of a recognizance order following a conviction on charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in 2003. On 21 November 2003 Mr Novak, who was bankrupt at the time, was convicted of managing a corporation whilst disqualified and, amongst other things, was ordered to pay a fine of $3,000 and notify the Court of any changes to his residential address. The Court allowed Mr Novak to pay the fine as six instalments of $500 however none of these payments were received.
In January 2006, ASIC brought the matter back before the Court because of Mr Novak’s failure to comply with the orders made. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued for Mr Novak in relation to the non-payment of the fine but police were unable to locate him because he had changed his address without notifying the Court as required. In February 2007, New South Wales Police located and arrested Mr Novak for driving offences and the arrest warrant relating to the ASIC offences was also executed. The Court ordered that Mr Novak’s nine-month sentence on charges brought by ASIC be served concurrently with a term of imprisonment arising from charges relating to his driving offences. ‘ASIC will take steps to ensure people who are fined for breaching the Corporations Act pay those fines and comply with orders of the Court’, Mr Greg Tanzer, ASIC’s Executive Director of Consumer Protection said.
‘The length of the term of imprisonment in this instance should serve as a reminder of the importance of complying with Court orders’, Mr Tanzer said. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions prosecuted the matter. For further information contact: Greg Tanzer Executive Director Consumer Protection Telephone: 07 3867 4704 Mobile: 0411 549 144 Danielle Huck ASIC Media Unit Mobile: 0417 540 769
