Leading contracting firm Leighton Holdings has accepted fines amounting to $300,000 relating to three infringement notices regarding downgrades issued by the firm late in April last year.
Stressing that acceptance of the notices did not constitute an admission of liability, the company says it has agreed to implement a formal review of its disclosure practices, and that acceptance of penalties both avoids further legal costs and allows the company to focus upon operational issues.
“We take our continuous disclosure obligations very seriously and have undertaken to ASIC to implement an independent review of our systems” Chairman Stephen Jones says.
“We recognise that continuous disclosure is extremely important for the efficient operation of the market and will use the review as part of our program to improve the systems that support our business”.
Leighton’s reputation was dealt a significant blow last year after large writedowns on three projects, the Brisbane Airport Link project, Victoria Desalination Plant and its 45% share in Dubai based construction company AI Habtoor Leighton Group, turned an anticipated $430 million after tax profit into a $407.1 million loss.
Its reputation suffered further this year when the company announced it had discovered possible illegal conduct with regard to payments made by a subsidiary company in Iraq.
