Corporate Governance ‘ Bosses who kill should be jailed. In the case of James Hardie executives,...

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Corporate Governance ‘ Bosses who kill should be jailed. In the case of James Hardie executives, they have known since the 1930s that asbestos is a killer and they didn ’ t stop producing asbestos products until 1985. James Hardie executives ’ decision to continue producing asbestos for more than 50 years after discovering that asbestos is a killer means that they should be prosecuted for manslaughter. They are mass murderers. http://www.mondaq.
	
Document Preview: Case Study: James Hardie IndustriesJames Hardie: Murder By Any Other Name by Rohan Pearce, Green Left Weekly, September 15, 2004,http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/598/598p24.htmThe James Hardie scandal is one of corporate Australia’s worst. While the amount of money involved may be less than some of the high-profile corporate collapses of recent years, the cynicism with which Hardie’s management evidently maneuvered to limit the company’s liability for compensation to victims of its deadly asbestos products business is breathtaking. But perhaps it’s not surprising for a corporation that has long put the drive for profits before the lives of its employees.On August 13, the special inquiry set up by the NSW government to investigate the Medical Research and Compensation Foundation, created by James Hardie to meet the corporation’s compensation liabilities for its victims, held its final day of hearings. The inquiry’s head, David Jackson QC, is due to issue his report on September 21. The inquiry was established after it was revealed that the MRCF did not have assets to meet projected compensation claims. According to an August 11 Sydney Morning Herald report, the shortfall is expected to exceed $1.5 billion.The MRCF was established in 2001. On February 16 of that year, James Hardie announced that it had ‘resolved its future asbestos liability for the mutual benefit of claimants and shareholders’. The MRCF was supposed to fund all future compensation claims and support medical research through $293 million worth of assets that James Hardie transferred to it.‘Effective today’, stated a press release in 2001, ‘the consolidated profit and loss statement of the James Hardie group will not include costs associated with asbestos. From today, these costs will be borne by the new foundation.’In September 2001, James Hardie announced that 98% of shareholders had voted to support a proposed corporate restructure, which transformed James Hardie Industries Limited...

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Corporate Governance
 
Corporate Governance 
James Hardie Industries
a) In February 2007, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) filed legal 
proceedings against the seven former non-executive directors (NED where five were 
Australian and two American), three former executive directors and the company secretary of 
James Hardie for the charges of purportedly creating a relief foundation and showing that the 
Medical research and Compensation Fund is fully-funded for the purpose of providing 
compensation to asbestos disease compensation claimants. The investigation by ASIC 
revealed that the foundation so created was underfunded by an astounding figure of $1.2 
billion. According to the NSW Court of  Appeal, the asbestos-product manufacturing 
company, James Hardie, was charged on the case of breach of provisions of the section 180 
(1) of the Corporations Act, 2001. The accusations on the abovementioned employees were 
on the grounds that they did not exercise their rightful duty by providing wrong information 
about the relief foundation and in doing so, they failed to perform their duties towards the 
company in general, and the community, in particular. In effect, Gzell J passes a judgment 
making the each accused liable for issuing a non-transparent and fake draft market 
announcement. However,

Corporate Governance ‘ Bosses who kill should be jailed. In the case of James Hardie executives, they have known since the 1930s that asbestos is a killer and they didn ’ t stop producing asbestos...

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