ACT Justice Spokesman and commercial lawyer Stephen Franks has written to Serious Fraud Office director David Bradshaw, requesting that he release to Fletcher Challenge the information the SFO received, when it inquired into an alleged insider trading incident involving Fletcher Challenge shares in May last year.

“If the company is prepared to take action against the people involved in this questionable trading in its shares, it should not be effectively blocked by an SFO decision to take no action.

“If the SFO has a policy of only prosecuting when it thinks it has a better than 50 percent chance of success, it should change that policy.

“When a climate has developed of suspicion that there is a high toleration of commercial dishonesty, extraordinary measures may be needed to restore confidence. The public needs to know there has been no cover-up.

“I think these concerns would be best addressed through obvious willingness to assist open court proceedings for a judge’s decision if the law is uncertain.

“This is particularly important at a time when the SFO is pitching to front insider trading investigations and prosecutions should the Government introduce criminal sanctions against convicted insiders,” Mr Franks said.

ENDS

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