Australia's corporate watchdog has filed charges against 113 different companies between January 1 and March 31, 2010 for alleged violation of the Corporations Act. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the allegations were brought to court after receiving complaints from the public and insolvency practitioners.

In a statement, ASIC said the filing of the charges resulted to the imposition of fees from said companies totaling $222,200.

Majority of the companies charged violated rules of the Corporation Act particularly the provision on statutory obligation to provide assistance to liquidators and administrators or for failing to provide them with access to a company's books. ASIC also prosecuted directors who failed to update ASIC's public information registers with the current company/officer information and for lodging documents with ASIC knowing they contained false and/or misleading information.

Of the 113 directors prosecuted, 79 were from New South Wales, 15 were from Queensland, 16 were from Victoria and 3 were from South Australia.

The names, offences, results and location of the company officers prosecuted by ASIC is

All 113 directors were prosecuted summarily before the Local and Magistrates' Courts in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. All the directors were prosecuted for specific criminal breaches of the Act (see attachment below), with some deterrence activities commencing before January 2010. While the majority of the directors were prosecuted in-house by ASIC lawyers, some of the breaches were also prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.