Adviser permanently banned for vote rigging

In a statement, ASIC said it banned Neil John Evans of Wodonga, Victoria, after it 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 the ASIC Act 2001 about his conduct in vote rigging the WAW Credit Union Co-Operative director elections by misusing the personal details of WAW members to cast ballots on their behalf and without their authorisation.

ASIC said it 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’ 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,” ASIC said.

Mr Evans has sought a review of its delegate’s decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Adrian Flores

Adrian Flores is a deputy editor at Momentum Media, focusing mainly on banking, wealth management and financial services. He has also written for Public Accountant, Accountants Daily and The CEO Magazine.

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