asic taking centro directors to court

"Central to ASIC's action is the responsibility of company directors and chief financial officers to take reasonable steps to ensure that information contained in financial reports and disclosed to the market, is accurate, complies with relevant accounting standards, and is not misleading," the regulator said in a statement.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/21/2719696.htm

A parallel can be drawn with the actions of Ventracor company directors who failed to disclose that they knocked back financing offers from institutional investors and by doing so tipped the company into receivership.

"Mr Ward, a former head of Qantas, also pointed to a later fundraising proposal that was proceeding well until the market hit new lows in November.
The frank report aimed to assure nervous investors that the company had been doing its utmost to raise money.
But what he did not reveal was that even before Lehman filed for bankruptcy, Ventracor had rejected multi-million-dollar financing offers because it believed its share price at the time did not reflect the company's true value."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,,24798807-36418,00.html

"That could explain the contents of an email sent by a Cowen & Co representative to the finance head at Berlin Heart, a German medical device company that had expressed interest in investing in or acquiring the troubled Ventracor.
'Thank you for your interest,' Berlin's Sven-Rene Friedel was told. 'However, I believe it is quite late in the process to get you involved.'
The email was dated March 10. Nine days later, Ventracor called in the administrator, citing an inability to find a buyer or new investor."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25690826-30538,00.html