A former financial planner who embezzled more than $970,000 of client money has been handed down an eight year jail term.
Late last week Piet Cornelius Walters pleaded guilty to 14 fraud charges laid by ASIC. The charges, involving more than $972,000, refer to Walters' provision of financial services to the clients of Drury Management.
Drury Management was a Cairns-based accounting practice of which Walters was a director.
Walters was originally convicted on 14 fraud charges on 16 September 2006 and appealed the District Court's decision. On 27 April 2007, the conviction was overturned and a retrial ordered.
Walters will be eligible for parole on 1 November 2009. The parole date takes into account his guilty plea and the time he has already served.
An ASIC investigation between 1999 and 2003 found that Walters obtained loans from about 118 private investors in the Cairns area who were guaranteed returns of 8 to 15 per cent per annum.
In October 2004, the Supreme Court of Queensland ordered Jessup and Partners, who had already been appointed as receiver, take on the role as liquidator of the scheme, as well as Drury Management and Ransom House.
The liquidator estimated about $15 million in losses from the scheme.
The court also imposed a permanent injunction restraining all respondents from further operating the scheme, receiving or soliciting funds in connection with the scheme, dealing with any property held by them and destroying or interfering with any of their books and records.
In September 2004, ASIC permanently banned Walters from providing any financial services.
