A former KPMG senior manager caught insider trading has been ordered to undertake community service for two years.
In the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Peter Hall sentenced Andrew Dalzell to two years’ imprisonment, to be served by way of ‘an intensive correction order’.
Under the order, the 49-year-old unemployed Randwick man is required to undertake a minimum of 32 hours of community service a month.
He had pleaded guilty to one charge of insider trading, relating to his purchase of 40,000 shares in the printing company Promentum Limited in November 2006.
At the time, the KPMG senior manager was part of a team advising Promentum about a proposal to acquire another printing company, MacMillan Group.
Dalzell paid $52,369 for the shares, but two weeks later when the offence was detected, he resigned from his job and sold the shares at a loss of about $3000.
The judge said the insider trading was at the lower end of seriousness for such offences and did not involve a ‘gross abuse’ of highly confidential information.
Dalzell told the judge that a confidential report to which he had access played only a part in his decision to buy the shares.
Over the years, he had followed printing companies and the report was only a ‘stage-one pitch document’, he said.
In saying he had not recognised he was acting in a criminal way, Dalzell noted he bought the shares in his own ‘unusual’ name and used his usual broker.
But Justice Hall concluded he must have known what he did was ‘wrong and an abuse of trust’, although he may not have been mindful of the serious criminality of his acts.
He said Dalzell’s purchase had the potential to make him substantial profits.
The judge also referred to the need for general deterrence in sentencing, as insider trading had the capacity to undermine the integrity of the market and diminish public confidence.
CHINA WAS linked to two very different cases of espionage yesterday as military prosecutors in Taiwan indicted a general on charges of providing military secrets to China, and a US navy sailor pleaded guilty to trying to sell classified documents to someone he believed was a Chinese intelligence officer.
Maj Gen Lo Hsien-che has been in detention since January and the case has transfixed Taiwan, as it is one of the most serious security breaches in modern Taiwanese history. Military prosecutors said they will seek a sentence of life in prison.
China considers breakaway Taiwan a renegade province, an inviolable part of its territory since Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang lost the civil war with chairman Mao Zedong’s Communists and fled across the Strait of Taiwan in 1949. Both Taiwan and China regularly spy on each other.
Mr Lo “hurt the national interest and national security, and is a big blow to the reputation and morale of the army”, the military said in a statement.
Mr Lo wanted to sell the documents to the Chinese because he believed they would pay the most for them.
He is accused of collecting information related to United States arms sales, passing on military intelligence, spying and taking bribes. He leaked information about an integrated command, communications and control network that Taiwan is establishing with US infrastructure. Mr Lo is the highest-ranking member of the military to spy for China in half a century.
US petty officer 2nd class Bryan Minkyu Martin (22) faces a maximum sentence of life in prison after he pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted espionage.
At his court martial, the intelligence specialist who was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina at the time, preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan, said he accepted $11,500 (€8,100) from an undercover FBI agent known to him only as “Mr Lee” in exchange for information, documents, photographs and images that were classified as secret or top secret.
The documents involved naval operations and intelligence assessments related to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Authorities say the documents were delivered to the agent in November and December.
Mr Martin said he had spoken to the undercover agent by telephone, but had never seen him until their first meeting in a hotel lobby, saying he identified the mysterious “Mr Lee” because he was reading a Chinese newspaper.
You may deal with all types at work, but those irritating co-workers who drive you crazy might even be killing you.
According to this Israeli study, your chances of surviving is higher if you work with people you actually like, while the risk of premature death is reduced for people who report high levels of social support at their job.
The study also had some bad news for women in management roles.
According to the researchers, higher levels of control and decision making that come with working as a manager actually increased the risk of early death for women.
With men, it went the other way, but one assumes much of that fits in with the pressures of having to work with people who are not that supportive lower down the food chain.
Here’s a list of some of the most annoying habits our co-workers may demonstrate.
It includes flogging stuff for their children like lollies and chocolates, brown-nosers who are forever sucking up to the boss, people who fill the office with the stench from lunches eaten at the desk, loud mouths who broadcast their conversations all over the office, and the ones who have annoying mobile phone ring tones (especially those that leave their phones sitting on their desk while they’re off doing something else).
Those who smelled like ash trays and the people with annoying nervous habits like forever clicking their pens also got a mention.
According to HR reporter, other annoying habits include sloppy work, gossiping or engaging in office politics, missing deadlines, being constantly late, and presenting others’ ideas as your own.
Then there are the ones who keep interrupting conversations, who eavesdrop when you’re talking to someone or who suddenly have too much work to do when there is a crisis and everyone has to pitch in.
Add to that, the know it all, the attention seeker, the microwave monopolisers, and the people who talk your ear off.
Then there are the ones who spend all their time updating their status on Facebook or tweeting some inanity. And don’t forget those who yell across cubicles and the people who keep coming in to work when they’re sick, spreading their disease.
This is a long list, and office relationships seem to be under more strain than ever before as open plan offices become the norm and people put in longer hours.
So how do we deal with these problems? Some experts suggest talking it through or, if that fails, putting on a set of headphones to drown it out. You might also ask your boss for help, or establish some sort of paper trail.
Wallace Immen at Canada’s Globe and Mail, recommends being patient and only raising it as an issue if the problem persists, choosing your words carefully (“you mightn’t be aware of this but….”), or asking for a desk relocation. He says you shouldn’t hold grudges, assume its a deliberate, or raise it with them when you are angry.
In this unsealed document federal prosecutors said in 2006, Headley traveled to the FATA area with Pasha. “During the trip, Headley and Pasha were stopped and questioned by Pakistani authorities. Headley was questioned by an individual who identified himself as Major Ali. He told Ali about his training with LeT, Ali then asked Headley for his contact information.”
“Several days later, Headley was contacted by an individual who identified himself as Major Iqbal,” said the unsealed document.
“Over the next several years, as described in more detail below, Headley met with Major Iqbal and his associates many times. During these meetings, Headley was trained in various topics, including spotting and assessing people, recognising Indian military insignia and movements, dead drops and pick up points, and clandestine photography,” the unsealed documents said.
Image: NSG commandoes para-dive atop Nariman House in Mumbai during 26/11 terror strikes
Getaway Driver Listened To Police Traffic, Police Say
MUNCIE, Ind. — A man accused of being a getaway driver in a foiled pharmacy robbery used a smart phone application to eavesdrop on emergency radio transmissions as he waited in his car, police said.
Muncie detective Jim Johnson told The Star Press newspapers that investigators wonder whether 29-year-old Matthew Hale knew to leave the scene by eavesdropping on their conversations.
He said officers believe Hale fled after hearing radio calls saying a security guard in the store had captured his alleged cohort, 23-year-old Brian Franklin.
Johnson said Hale used his smart phone to download an application that allowed him to eavesdrop on police radio transmissions.
Franklin faces a preliminary charge of attempted armed robbery, while Hale faces preliminary charges of attempted armed robbery and unlawful use of a police radio.
