Mother's Shares Helped Son Earn Bonus
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday January 14, 2009
WHEN Martin Soust, boss of the Melbourne biotechnology company Select Vaccines, was allegedly in danger of losing an end-of-year bonus because of the company's poor share price performance, the corporate watchdog claims he turned to his mother for a helping hand.
The corporate regulator has alleged in the Federal Court that Mr Soust - a former head of Athletics Australia and Skiing Australia - purchased $2550 of shares in his mother's name during the last hour of trading on December 31, 2007.ASIC alleges that the jump in the share price sparked by his buying ensured the board would award him a $24,500 bonus on top of his $245,000 salary because Select Vaccines share price no longer underperformed its peers for the year, grounds for a bonus in Mr Soust's contract.Select Vaccines shares rose to 2.5 cents from 2 cents in the only trading that occurred that day.Since Mr Soust's mother, Bohumira Soust, shares his last name, the Australian Securities Exchange later flagged the trade as suspicious. Last May - a month after Mr Soust is said to have received his bonus - an ASX official rang Select Vaccines' company secretary to ask whether the firm was aware of the share purchase.Mr Soust was asked to explain the share purchase to the company secretary. ASIC alleges that he replied his mother had purchased the shares and "bought shares from time to time".But the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which is seeking a monetary penalty and to ban Mr Soust from managing corporations, has alleged he gave the instructions to a broker at Bell Potter to buy the shares using his mother's account. He allegedly transferred $2660 to Bell Potter from the bank account of Martin Soust & Co, a company that controls a trust benefiting his wife and children.Mr Soust did not comment when contacted by the Herald yesterday. He resigned from Select Vaccines last August for "personal and family reasons".
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald