Two convictions for corruption. Two prison terms for senior bankers, one of them a CEO.
2024 proved a most unusual year for Australian banking, with the courts shedding some light on corruption in the industry.
Which must be far more widespread than these two cases illustrate.
In September, the District Court of New South Wales sentenced Jon Waldron, formerly the General Manager of Infrastructure Engineering at Commonwealth Bank of Australia to six years and eight months in prison.
Waldron will be eligible for parole after four years.
In May, Judge Phillip Mahony of the District Court convicted Jon Waldron on 10 counts of corruptly receiving a benefit, or aiding and abetting corruption sponsored by US-based cloud services supplier ServiceMesh in 2014.
Waldron had elected for a trial by judge alone and the reasons for his conviction are the subject of a lengthy and fascinating judgement, reported here.
Following a guilty plea in 2016 Keith Hunter – Waldron’s co-offender and immediate superior at the bank - was convicted and sentenced to a term in prison of three and a half years.
Hunter received a 50 per cent discount on sentence, conditional on his cooperation in the trial, last year, of Waldron.
More spectacularly - even if rather more small fry - in November a jury at the Brisbane District Court found Lyndon Kingston - the former CEO of Bananacoast Community Credit Union - guilty of two counts of dishonestly using his position with the intention of gaining an advantage and two counts of providing misleading information to the auditor of BCU.
The jury were unable to reach a unanimous verdict concerning two further counts and were subsequently discharged from further deliberations in respect of these.
Earlier this month, Judge Carl Heaton of the District Court sentenced Kingston to 18 months in prison. He will be eligible for release after 6 months.
Kingston is believed to be the first former bank CEO or credit union CEO in Australia sent to jail.
As iconic as this sentencing outcome is, Kingston's penalty seems exceptionally lenient, and thus the CDPP and ASIC must be keenly debating the merits of an appeal over Kingston's sentence.
Unfortunately, so prohibitive are the costs to the media of daily court reporting on even a major criminal trial of this nature, very little is known of the details of Lyndon Kingston's offending.
The same can be said for APRA's murky role in the Bananacoast/Lyndon Kingston affair.
Omitted, regrettably, even in Banking Day's recent reporting on Lyndon Kingston's conviction and sentencing was that Kingston was a rather senior employee - and thus banking regulator - at APRA prior to joining BCU.
Among his responsibilities at APRA, Kingston was the 'accounting specialist' in the Specialised Institutions Division. His subsequent career trajectory at APRA before joining BCU - initially as chief risk officer - is unknown.
Any reader with any insight into the Bananacoast/Lyndon Kingston affair, or indeed any other suspicions or evidence of corruption, please get in touch.