Monday 5 March 2007 – LawFuel – Australia & New Zealand Business + Law – Law Jobs – Former investment adviser and principal of Golconda Resources, Mr Mark Alan Taylor has been extradited from Malaysia after being arrested in Labuan, Malaysia. Mr Taylor appeared in the Adelaide District Criminal Court today on 65 charges following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation into his activities promoting investments related to the failed Queensland investment scheme known as the Wattle Group.
Mr Taylor faces seven charges relating to money paid by investors to the Wattle Group, 56 charges of relating to money paid to Golconda Resources, and two charges of fraudulently inducing a person to deal in securities between 31 October 1995 and 30 April 1998. Mr Taylor was committed for trial on 27 July 2001. A bench warrant was issued on 21 February 2002 by the District Court for Mr Taylor’s arrest when he failed to appear in Court as required by the conditions of his bail. Mr Taylor has been remanded in custody to appear again on 26 March 2007. The charges are being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Background The Wattle Group was an unlicensed investment scheme that raised more than $160 million from over 2,700 investors across Australia until 1998 when ASIC took action to wind up the scheme. Mr Geoffrey Robert Dexter operated the scheme by obtaining unsecured loan funds from investors on the promise of high rates of return, generally 50 per cent per annum. On 7 May 2001, Mr Dexter was convicted of multiple fraud charges and jailed for 10 years. Mr Ian William Snook, formerly an investment adviser and also principal of Golconda Resources, was sentenced on 2 October 2003 to two years imprisonment but was immediately released on entering into a bond in the sum of $1,000 to be of good behaviour for two years. For further information contact: Allen Turton Deputy Executive Director, Enforcement Telephone: 02 9911 2338 Mobile: 0411 549 236 Danielle Huck ASIC Media Unit Mobile: 0417 540 769
