A Gold Coast man has been convicted and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in the Queensland District Court after pleading guilty to 12 charges of making false and misleading statements relating to an early release superannuation scheme.
The man, Timothy Melrose Barritt, was sentenced to four years imprisonment but was released immediately on a $3000 good behaviour bond for five years on two counts of providing false and misleading documents. He was also sentenced to 12 months imprisonment to be served by way of an intensive correction order on the 10 remaining counts.
The charges were the result of an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) into a superannuation business called Super Release, which assisted people to redeem their superannuation benefits in return for the payment of a commission.
ASIC alleged that Barritt made false or misleading statements in order to secure the payment of the superannuation benefits, in circumstances that did not meet a condition of release under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993.
ASIC also alleged that Barritt made representations to various superannuation funds that member benefits would be rolled over and preserved in the TM Barritt Superannuation Fund or KOM Superannuation Fund and that in each case the member’s superannuation benefit was not preserved.
Commenting on the outcome of the case, ASIC’s Deputy Executive Director of Enforcement, Allen Turton said it highlighted the need for people to be careful about who they entrusted with their superannuation benefits.
