ID :
163963
Fri, 02/25/2011 - 12:05
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http://m.oananews.org//node/163963
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Former childcare boss to stand trial
Former ABC Learning Centres boss Eddy Groves has been committed to stand trial relating to the collapse of Australia's biggest childcare chain.
Groves formally pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday to breaking the Corporations Act by failing to fulfil his duties as a director, the ABC reported.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleges Groves engaged in a dishonest deal with the former director of the chain's Australian and New Zealand operations, Martin Vincent Kemp, just months before the collapse.
The charges arose from a two-year investigation after ABC Learning collapsed beneath $1.6 billion of debt in November 2008.
Groves said he's eager to get the case moving.
"My role is to bring this on as quickly as possible so that I can clear my name and that's what I want to do," he told reporters outside court.
Mr Groves grew ABC Learning from a single centre in Brisbane in 1988 into the nation's biggest corporate chain.
He quit as chief executive of global operations six weeks before its collapse, when ABC Learning owned 1200 centres in Australia and had expanded into the US, Britain and New Zealand.
The offences carry a maximum jail term of five years.
Groves formally pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday to breaking the Corporations Act by failing to fulfil his duties as a director, the ABC reported.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleges Groves engaged in a dishonest deal with the former director of the chain's Australian and New Zealand operations, Martin Vincent Kemp, just months before the collapse.
The charges arose from a two-year investigation after ABC Learning collapsed beneath $1.6 billion of debt in November 2008.
Groves said he's eager to get the case moving.
"My role is to bring this on as quickly as possible so that I can clear my name and that's what I want to do," he told reporters outside court.
Mr Groves grew ABC Learning from a single centre in Brisbane in 1988 into the nation's biggest corporate chain.
He quit as chief executive of global operations six weeks before its collapse, when ABC Learning owned 1200 centres in Australia and had expanded into the US, Britain and New Zealand.
The offences carry a maximum jail term of five years.
