The corporate regulator said in a statement on the ASIC website that an ASIC investigation discovered Mr Konjevic had been involved in misleading and deceptive conduct under the Corporations Act 2001.
ASIC said the investigation revealed the Victorian adviser “had not adhered to various UBS codes of conduct, including the code of business conduct and ethics of UBS, gifts policy and corruption policy, and was in a position of conflict”.
The corporate regulator also said Mr Konjevic was “likely to have misled his employer and UBS Wealth Management Australia into assuming he was complying with various codes of conduct and relevant policies, and was not in a position of conflict as required under those policies, when this was not the case”.
The investigation found, between 19 March 2012 and 15 August 2012, Mr Konjevic entered an arrangement with Astra Resources PLC (Astra) where he stood to receive 900,000 Astra shares and referrals from Astra of its shareholders to Mr Konjevic to act as their adviser “if he caused current UBS clients to acquire Astra shares and if he assisted Astra in obtaining UBS custody services”.
Several UBS clients invested a total of $1 million in Astra on Mr Konjevic’s recommendation and as a result, 900,000 Astra shares were received by a nominee of Mr Konjevic.
These Astra shares were not disclosed to UBS or UBS Wealth.
UBS Wealth, who cooperated with ASIC throughout the investigation, terminated Mr Konjevic’s employment in April 2013, according to the ASIC statement.
