The corporate watchdog has charged a second former Leighton Holdings executive, Russell Waugh, in a matter related to the falsification of company documents after previously laying criminal charges against former Leighton chief financial officer Peter Gregg.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission charged Mr Gregg, who resigned as Primary Health Care's chief executive in mid-January, with two counts of falsifying company documents in 2011 when he was working for construction group Leighton (now known as CIMIC.) Mr Gregg has denied breaching any civil or criminal law.
ASIC said on Tuesday that Russell John Waugh,"has also been charged in relation to this matter" and will appear before Downing Centre Local Court on February 28. Mr Waugh's address is listed as Maylands, Western Australia but he is currently believed to be overseas.
Mr Waugh spent more than six years at Leighton International, the arm of Leighton embroiled in a bribery scandal, between 2004 and 2011. He was in charge of managing its offshore oil and gas business in the Middle East between 2009 and 2010.
Mr Waugh left Leighton suddenly in September 2012 after Leighton undertook an internal investigation into alleged bribes in Iraq, and joined contractor UGL in November 2012, initially as group president of its international businesses before being put in charge of its engineering division by former UGL CEO Richard Leupen.
Mr Waugh was forced to leave UGL, which was acquired by CIMIC in December, in October 2013 after clients told the company they were worried about his role in the Leighton bribery scandal. Mr Waugh has denied any direct or indirect involvement in "corrupt activities" while working at Leighton.
ASIC has been investigating a $15 million payment from Leighton to UAE firm Asian Global Projects and Trading in August 2011 as part of a broader investigation into alleged corruption at the construction group between 2009 and 2011.
The $15 million payment was signed off by Mr Gregg, who has denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Gregg will stay in his role until the healthcare group has completed an internal and external search for a new CEO.
Mr Gregg's lawyers attended the first court hearing since ASIC's charges were laid on Tuesday and asked for the case to be "progressed" as soon as possible. Mr Gregg did not appear.
The magistrate said the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions had until February 26 to serve an additional statement, and told the parties to return to court on February 28 when a timetable for the trial would be set.
Mr Gregg has been charged with two counts of contravening section 1307(1) of the Corporations Act.
