The fight for justice just got a little tougher for Frank Cullity Wilson, the founder and former CEO of failed sandalwood oil maker Quintis.
The long arm of the corporate law tapped him on the shoulder on Thursday, with ASIC launching civil penalty proceedings against Wilson “for failing to discharge his duties as a director” during his time in charge.
ASIC is alleging that “by failing to disclose to the Quintis board” that a high-profile contract with Nestle subsidiary Galderma had been terminated, Wilson “did not discharge his duties to Quintis with the degree of care and diligence that a reasonable person in the position of managing director would exercise”.
Wilson, for his part, has denied the allegations and has launched defamation proceedings against the former Quintis board members.
"I think it's pretty clear that Quintis fell off a cliff after I left and mainly regretted that I had no idea that the board of management would be so inept after I left," Wilson told the ABC recently.
That might be a little one-eyed.
Quintis founder Frank Wilson has denied the allegations.
Photo: Philip Gostelow
The real shocker was that the Nestle contract had been terminated five months before it was announced to the ASX, in December 2016, but the board said no one informed them.
"It is unacceptable that the current board was not made aware of the contract termination when it took place," chairman Dalton Gooding said in the bombshell announcement in May.
ASIC is backing the Quintis board and fingering Wilson for not passing the bad news to his fellow directors.
ASIC is also alleging that Wilson allowed Quintis to release information in March last year regarding the status of the Nestle contract that was "misleading or deceptive".
Wilson was meant to come back with a consortium to buy Quintis, but he has now gone one better.
Since Quintis collapsed, Wilson has reportedly formed a sandalwood growers co-operative to take control of the plantations from receivers appointed to Quintis. This is an ongoing battle worth watching.
Meanwhile, ASIC said its investigation was ongoing
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