Who within ASX informed SMH/The Age journalists and provided proof of the weekend email exchange between ASX and ISX of Sunday 10 November? How does ASX investigate any claims of confidential leaks to the media? Why didn't ASX refute the claims made by SMH?
***** Sources for this post -
(1) Source: Australian Government: Duties of confidentiality and loyalty and fidelityLast modified by AGov 17 June, 2010.Breach of confidence3.3 The equitable action for breach of confidence may be used to restrict the disclosure of information in certain circumstances. The principle is that the court will ‘restrain the publication of confidential information improperly or surreptitiously obtained or of information imparted in confidence which ought not to be divulged’.
[1]3.4
An action for breach of confidence may be brought to restrain disclosure by a third party who has received confidential information. The information may have been communicated in breach of a duty of confidence[2] or may have come into the hands of the third party by human error.
[3](2) The Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX) was formed on 1 April 1987, through incorporation under legislation of the Australian Parliament. Is the ASX governed or subject to (1) above or given they have been incorporated under their own separate act, do these rules not apply to them? Likewise, transparency rules re conflicts of ownership and/or vested interests – as they do not seem to apply to the ASX? We have no way of knowing if perceived conflicts of interest are scrutinised. Also, how is it that journalists from a media organisation as disreputable as 9EC’s, are allowed to freely and openly publish that they have sighted a ‘confidential’ email exchange between ASX and an ASX listed company.
Why haven’t ASX disputed the claim from SMH and another from 9EC? What mechanism does ASX have in place to ensure there is no ‘sensitive’ confidential information leaked to third parties? How did SMH know of the exchange of emails between ASX and ISX and SIGHTED THEM? 9EC’s press also sighted OM’s report 12 Sept 2019 but never quoted any sections of the actual OM report.Re the 10 November/11 November SMH claims - who within ASX leaked the email/s to such scurrilous media outlets and entities? Certainly wasn’t JK or ISX. And JK/ISX, would have their own email records which would prove who they contacted in ASX on Sunday 10 November. So who in ASX shared those emails with SMH and The Age on the weekend of Sat 9Nov/Sun 10 Nov?
(3) An article freely published online by 9EC’s Kruger on behalf of SMH:
iSignthis and ASX trade blows over ASIC's role in suspension
By Colin Kruger -
MONDAY – November 11, 2019 — 2.18pmFormer tech darling iSignthis is in open battle with the ASX over its ongoing trading suspension announcing on Monday the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) did not request the move.
Emails seen by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reveal how the market operator ASX allowed iSignthis to release the announcement despite misgivings about “potentially misleading aspects” of the company’s statement.In the announcement on Monday
iSignthis said it had received a written statement from ASIC last week stating "the decision by ASX to suspend ISX Ltd (iSignthis) from trading on 2 October 2019 was not made with a direction from ASIC".
iSignthis chief executive John Karantzis said it had taken the company more than a month to get answers from the ASX.
iSignthis chief executive John Karantzis said this confirms the company's suspension from trading is purely at the discretion of the ASX.
"It has taken us more than a month to get an answer to a simple question about who actually asked for the suspension of ISX shares," Mr Karantzis said.
In an email to investors on Monday Mr Karantzis said the ASX "has still not told us the 'why' that makes any sense to us".
"It is clear that from the ASX questions, that the ASX is now looking for a cause to justify its unprecedented intervention in the market," he said.
The ASX issued a reply within minutes saying it "at no time represented to ISX or anyone else that the suspension of ISX's securities on 2 October 2019 was at the direction of ASIC".
The regulator said at the time the suspension was made in consultation with ASIC given it also was conducting inquiries into iSignthis and "ASX understands that ASIC's inquiries are ongoing".
The emails seen by the Herald and Age detail part of the exchange between iSignthis and ASX on Sunday afternoon[my comment: that would be Sunday 10 November 2019 and JK and/or ISX would not be sharing any emails with SMH, or 9EC journalists or 9EC gossip columnists. Hence, who provided the emails to SMH, AFR et al – could only have been ASX – someone within ASX.]
over the company's announcement, with the market operator [my comment – the market operator being ASX] saying it "incorrectly implies" it had refused to say who "asked" for the suspension for more than a month.
ASX told iSignthis it would allow the statement to be released but would immediately follow with its own statement "in order to alert investors and other stakeholders to this incorrect implication and other potentially misleading aspects of the announcement".ASX declined to comment on the email.
ASIC also declined to respond to requests for comment.{closing statements from Kruger’s published claim re ASX of 11 Nov 19 – excerpts above}
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My comment: How does Kruger know ASX told iSignthis it would allow the statement to be released but would immediately following with its own statement……]. Why did ASX decline to comment on Kruger’s knowledge of the email? Shouldn’t ASX investigate how/why/who within ASX told Kruger/9EC journalists of the email exchange?
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So how can any of us have faith or confidence in the ASX, as the ASX is currently a self-governed, self-ruling and/conflicted/profiteering organisation, an organisation which has been granted an autonomous authority under a parliamentary act to govern and autonomously decide on the future of other ASX listed companies. As for ASX personnel etc....what prevents them from being compromised (and or corrupted?) by remuneration or favours [or from pressure] from journalists, or investment advisers, fund managers and also companies seeking ASX's endorsement by providing fees etc for services to ASX 'employees'.
From ASX’s Annual Report 2019 below - “All directors receive copies of agendas, papers and minutes of committee meetings to help ensure they remain equally informed, regardless of whether they are appointed to particular committees.”View attachment 1871542
