Aussie TV host apologetic after court appearance

SYDNEY - Stephen Vizard, who gained fame in Australia as a television show host in the early 1990s, was in court yesterday to face civil claims he used confidential information to trade shares while he was a Telstra director.

Australia's securities regulator has sued Vizard for using price-sensitive information to buy and sell A$850,000 ($947,623) of stock in three companies linked to the nation's largest phone company.

Vizard, 49, who served as a Telstra director from 1996 to 2000, told the Melbourne court he was "deeply sorry".

"I make no excuses," he told Judge Ray Finkelstein in a statement read by his lawyer, James Judd. "I deeply regret the contravention. I unreservedly apologise."

Vizard should be fined A$390,000 and disqualified from company directorships for five years, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's lawyer, Neil Young, told the court.

The commission sued Vizard, rather than charge him with criminal insider-trading, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. The suit outraged some observers, who accuse the regulator of being lenient because of Vizard's business and political connections.

Vizard resigned as chairman of Victorian Major Events, which helped Melbourne win its bid for next year's Commonwealth Games, three days before the suit was filed on July 4.

The former Australian "Father of the Year" also quit as chairman of Melbourne-based information technology company Oakton this month.

Judge Finkelstein is expected to hand down his decision on the size of the fine and length of time Vizard will be banned from managing companies next week.



- BLOOMBERG