The conviction of the former chairman of Australia's largest retailer for corporate fraud was a rare victory for the nation's regulators, grappling with a crime which costs the country billions of dollars each year.
Recent surveys have estimated that corporate fraud costs the Australian economy between A$13 billion (US$10 billion) and A$16 billion a year.
Regulators say, however, the costs of such crimes are almost impossible to monitor due to poor evidence and few enforcement resources.
Brian Quinn, former chief executive of retail giant Coles Myer Ltd, was found guilty in April of defrauding the firm of A$4.46 million between 1982 and 1988, most of which went into renovating his luxurious Melbourne mansion.
Australia revised its corporations law in 1989 in an effort to make it easier to catch and bring to trial corporate criminals, after a string of failed entrepreneurs in the 1980s.
However, only a handful of offenders have been caught since and just one person has been convicted of insider trading.
* Corporate police poorly funded *
Lawyers said it is not so much the law being inadequate but the regulators being poorly funded.
If you look at the Alan Bond case that is the case of corporate fraud on a huge scale and how many years did that take to get to court?, said Ron Forster at legal firm Deacons Graham and James.
Bond, a former Australian media and brewing tycoon, was sentenced in February to four years in prison for his role in Australia's biggest case of corporate fraud, worth A$1.0 billion, which took place over eight years ago.
I think it is a combination of the law and more practical factors such as clogged courts and investigative processes, and difficulties with evidence, said a spokeswoman for corporate regulator the Australian Securities Commission (ASC).
Australian authorities are still chasing some alleged corporate offenders of the 1980s, including Christopher Skase for the collapse of his media empire and Abe Goldberg, Australia's biggest bankruptcy case, for the collapse of his textile empire.
* Greed is good for fraud *
Greed was the driving factor behind corporate fraud, but growing job insecurity, personal financial problems, alcohol or gambling problems were also reasons for workplace crime, which is carried out across company ranks, regulators said.
Greed is still the overriding factor, said John Banks national co-ordinator for forensic accounting at KPMG.
KPMG estimated last year that corporate fraud was costing the country about A$16 billion a year.
Although there was no documented evidence, some experts tipped that corporate fraud was on the rise. But others say companies have simply become more vigilant on internal cost controls.
We are saying that it is likely that it has risen, said Robert Wylie, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Wylie said corporate restructuring had led to a rise in fraud as companies laid off large numbers of middle management, who usually were responsible for checking cost or order claims.
However, KPMG's Banks said: A lot more corporations have internal groups that are looking at fraud prevention. They are a lot more serious than they ever were.
Institutional investor body, the Australian Investment Management Association, said investors were now prepared to pay a premium for companies that demonstrated strong corporate ethics.
Australia's business image was badly tarnished in the 1980s by the collapses of the Bond and Skase business empires and while its image has since improved, a few stains remained.
* White collar criminals *
The most likely culprits of market manipulation or insider trading were company directors, brokers and members of the financial community, with no previous criminal activity, according to authorities.
The prosecution depends on the nature of the case, in many instances the person who is the alledged offender will be a person of high repute, of usually impeccable character and no prior convictions, said Graham Davidson from Australia's main prosecutor, the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Authorities have a difficult task convicting culprits of insider trading as there is little written evidence. Most of the trading or manipulation is carried out through verbal instructions.
A spokesman for the Australian Stock Exchange said its market surveillance unit would be alerted to around 50,000 trades each year that look suspicious. About seven hundred would be referred to the company involved, of which about 35 cases would eventually be passed on to the ASC for investigation.
* Law changes maybe on the way *
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello in March said current corporate laws were out of date and invited public comment on planned government law reform in several areas, including fundraising, takeovers and directors' duties.
Corporate regulator, the ASC, may get a new set of teeth following the release of a report into Australia's finance industry in April which the government is now examining.
The report recommended the ASC be replaced by a more powerful body called the Corporate and Financial Services Commission.
