Banned adviser lodges Federal Court appeal

In a statement issued to ifa yesterday, Mr Tarrant, principal of Tarrants Accountants & Business Advisors in Wollongong, said he lodged an appeal last week “on the grounds that former ALP Attorney General, Justice Duncan Kerr, has denied [him] procedural fairness”.

Mr Tarrant also reiterated previous allegations that political bias may have impacted the legal proceedings involving his company’s role in the collapse of Trio.

“It is unacceptable that hard working and honest advisers are continually vilified when something goes wrong. Even when it is undisputed, international organised crime, the adviser is still blamed so as to protect the deep pocketed fund managers and incompetent government departments, ASIC and APRA, who are only too keen to play the game,” he said.

On December 20, the AAT affirmed ASIC’s seven-year banning orderas the appropriate course of action, ruling that a number of breaches of financial services law had taken place.

Former clients of Mr Tarrant burned by the collapse of Trio have defended his name, telling ifa the former adviser has become a scapegoat and that responsibility should lie with other stakeholders.