Mayfair 101 claims James Mawhinney was not given any prior notice of the court hearing or a chance to defend the allegations and that ASIC leaked information to a reporter from The Guardian.
“In 2020 Australia we have a situation where a government agency can have a court impose onerous restrictions on travel and the operations of a business without prior notice to those impacted, the media can be invited to such a hearing where the accused has no knowledge or legal representation and the result of a supposed private hearing is then leaked to journalists for one-sided reporting,” Mayfair said in a statement.
“How can this be allowed to occur in a democracy?”
Mayfair 101 said that ASIC was not following its own model litigant guidelines and that if they were concerned about Mr Mawhinney leaving the country they could have asked him to surrender his passport – something Mr Mawhinney is apparently happy to do.
“Mr Mawhinney and the Mayfair 101 Group have nothing to hide,” Mayfair said in a statement. “They simply ask to participate in a process where the deck is not stacked against them by an overzealous corporate regulator with a history of aggressive litigation that is later proven to be misguided.”
Mayfair said it was provided with a copy of the order late on 13 August.
