ASIC has permanently banned former financial planner Neil John Evans from providing financial services.
Mr Evans, of Wodonga, Victoria, was banned after ASIC found that he lacked the judgment necessary to discharge the duties and obligations imposed on a provider of financial services.
In 2017, Mr Evans was examined twice by ASIC under section 19 of theASIC Act 2001 about his conduct in vote-rigging the WAW Credit Union Co-Operative Limited (WAW) director elections by misusing the personal details of WAW members to cast ballots on their behalf and without their authorisation.
ASIC found the evidence given by Mr Evans in his February 2017 examination differed from the evidence he gave in his subsequent examination in August 2017, rendering Mr Evans’s responses in the February 2017 examination false or misleading.
The delegate was satisfied that Mr Evans’ conduct, in respect of his unauthorised voting in the 2015 WAW elections and the false or misleading evidence given by him in the February 2017 examination, demonstrate a repeated lack of judgment, giving ASIC reason to believe that Mr Evans is not of good character and that he is likely to contravene financial services law.
Mr Evans has sought a review of the ASIC delegate’s decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Background
Between 4 November 2015 and 18 November 2015, WAW conducted elections to fill two vacant board positions. Mr Evans misused the personal details of no less than 499 WAW members to cast ballots in the election for two candidates without the authorisation of those members.
The consequences of Mr Evans’s vote-rigging was that one person was improperly elected to the WAW board and another person, who should have been elected, was not.
In July 2018, Mr Evans was found by the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court to have caused unauthorised modification to data held in a computer contrary to section 247C of the Victorian Crimes Act. The Court placed Mr Evans on a 12-month good behaviour bond, conditional upon him paying $12,000 into the court fund and prohibiting him from providing financial advice to WAW customers for the duration of the bond (18-208MR).
Editor's note:
On 16 August 2019, Mr Evans withdrew his application for review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.