The Australian High Court has ruled that seven former non-executive directors of beleaguered construction firm James Hardie breached corporate law by misleading the Australian Stock Exchange over its asbestos compensation fund.

 

The High Court upheld a previous 2009 ruling that found the non-executive directors acted deceitfully in approving a statement issued to the ASX that claimed sufficient amounts of funds had been allocated to the fund.

 

The previous finding supported accusations by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that the company had under resourced the fund by more than $1.5 billion.

 

“We made it clear when launching these proceedings that the action was in the public interest as it would involve the responsibility of executives and non-executives when boards of public companies make important or ‘bet the farm’ type decisions,” ASIC Chairman Greg Medcraft said.