Retrial ordered for former convicted adviser due to ‘miscarriage of justice’

The Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland has ordered a retrial for former Brisbane financial adviser Ben Jayaweera.

ASIC confirmed on Friday, 17 June, that the Court of Appeal made the decision last week following an appeal against the conviction and sentence in 2019 brought by the former adviser and director of Growth Plus Financial Group (in liquidation).

In 2019, Mr Jayaweera was found guilty of six charges of dishonestly causing detriment to clients, involving approximately $5.9 million and was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment, with a minimum period of six years to be served before becoming eligible for parole.

ASIC alleged that between September 2013 to October 2015, Jayaweera, through Growth Plus Financial Group, induced various investors to transfer funds, including funds from their self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), for investment into an unregistered managed investment scheme, known as the Australian Diversified Sector Income Fund (ADSIF).

ASIC also alleged Jayaweera invested some clients’ superannuation funds into the ADSIF without the clients’ knowledge or permission.

However, ASIC has confirmed in a new statement that a retrial will go ahead for all six counts.

“The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal on grounds including that deficiencies in the trial judge’s directions to the jury resulted in a miscarriage of justice,” the statement read.

All of Mr Jayaweera’s convictions have been set aside.

A prior investigation by ASIC found that between September 2013 to October 2015, Jayaweera met with various clients based in Queensland and told them he would be able to provide them with an investment opportunity to build their wealth towards retirement.

In October 2016, ASIC commenced civil proceedings in the Supreme Court of Queensland against Growth Plus and Jayaweera.

In May 2018, Jayaweera was charged with the six counts of fraud involving approximately $5.9 million. ASIC also provided the liquidator of Growth Plus with funding from the Assetless Administration Fund (AAF) to prepare a supplementary report that was used to assist with the investigation.

A date for the retrial is yet to be confirmed.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.