The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will now use its powers to recover expenses and costs related to its investigations.
The regulator has released a new information sheet (INFO 204) which details how it will now approach the recovery of expenses from those persons found guilty of wrongdoing. In future, where an ASIC investigation leads to a successful prosecution or civil proceedings against a person, the regulator may make an order to recover the investigation costs from that person.
ASIC said that, to date, it had rarely recovered its investigation expenses, but a review of its approach led the regulator to determine it should more frequently seek to recover the costs of an investigation from the person who has caused those expenses to be incurred.
In each case, ASIC will consider making an order for the recovery of the costs, in line with the guidance set out in INFO 204. The guilty party may be ordered to pay for all or part of the investigation, including the remuneration of ASIC staff involved in the investigation.
The new approach will apply to investigations from 29 July 2015, as well as some investigations that were commenced before this date.
