Ex-Macquarie banker guilty of contempt

[creampie]

Oswyn De Silva, a former Macquarie Bank fund manager, was stopped from leaving the country in breach of a court order (ABC News: Michael Janda, file photo)
A former Macquarie Bank portfolio manager has pleaded guilty to a charge of breaching court orders, after trying to leave the country.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says Oswyn De Silva was stopped by Australian Federal Police in Perth while he was trying to leave Australia on March 1, in breach of an order from the New South Wales Supreme Court restraining him from leaving the country.

ASIC says Mr De Silva pleaded guilty to a charge of being in contempt of the court order on Monday March 8, and will face a sentencing hearing on March 15.

On March 2, the NSW Supreme Court had ordered that Oswyn Indra De Silva hand over all his passports, and any airline tickets for travel in the two month period following the order.

36-year-old Mr De Silva is an UK resident, and one of his social networking pages reveals he was division director/co-head of global property securities at Macquarie Investment Management.

The page lists his previous employment before that as being the head of property securities at MacarthurCook, a portfolio manager at F and C Investment Management, and an investment analyst at Credit Lyonnais Securities.

It lists him as a graduate of McGill University in Canada.

ASIC has confirmed that he is no longer with Macquarie.

In a statement, ASIC says the orders restraining Mr De Silva from leaving the country were taken out in relation to an, "investigation of trading that Mr De Silva is alleged to have engaged in between 2006 and 2007."

However, when contacted by the ABC, ASIC would give no further details about what type of trading activities are being investigated, or what offences Mr De Silva is being investigated for.

The ABC also contacted Mr De Silva directly, but he said he could not comment on the investigations, before hanging up on the call.

Tags: business-economics-and-finance, banking, fraud-and-corporate-crime, australia, nsw, sydney-2000, wa, perth-6000

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... 841018.htm