Jail sentence for Wickham Securities' former CEO

ASIC announced on Friday that Garth Peter Robertson, who pleaded guilty back in July to dishonestly obtaining property and money, giving false company information to trustees and falsifying books, had been sentenced to five years in prison.

In the Brisbane District Court yesterday, Mr Robertson was sentenced to a total of five years' imprisonment in respect of 11 fraud offences, to be suspended after 20 months for a period of five years, ASIC said.

Mr Robertson was also sentenced to a total of 18 months' imprisonment for the offences relating to false information given and the falsification of Wickham's books. That sentence is to be served concurrently with the sentence imposed in respect of the fraud offences, the statement said.

Judge Moynihan said Mr Robertson took money from Wickham when he knew the company was in trouble, which ultimately diminished the sum available to creditors of the company.

The victims of Mr Robertson's "fraudulent and deceitful behaviour" had been adversely affected and there were devastating consequences for those who lost money as a result of his conduct, the judge said.