Former OAMPS CEO Robert Porter says he is suing ASIC because it knew well in advance of his trial last year that evidence it had collected against him was false. The case could be a major embarrassment for the regulator when it comes to court later this year.

ASIC claims a 92% success rate in its corporate prosecutions, but Mr Porter believes it went astray when it decided in 1998 to prosecute him.

Mr Porter, who says the court case mounted by ASIC left him unemployable, was charged in March 2000 with irregularities in share-trading. ASIC’s case revolved around allegations that he used company funds to arrange the transfer of a large parcel of OAMPS shares held by Rodney Adler’s FAI. The case collapsed late last year when the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew its allegations.

But the damage has been done, Mr Porter says, and he wants his name cleared and ASIC made to face the music for taking the case to court. Speaking on Channel 9’s Sunday program, he alleged that ASIC knew a year before the court case was mounted that the evidence against him was false.

He said Mr Adler was in possession of information that would exonerate him, but did not initially take his information to ASIC. Sunday said Mr Adler did not act on Mr Porter’s behalf after receiving advice from Minter Ellison partner Michael Hughes. In a fax to Mr Adler, he had pointed out that ASIC did not want to take action against Mr Adler over the share dealing, and added: “It is for ASIC to work out – what’s in it for you?”

Mr Porter said he showed his copy of the fax to a senior ASIC investigator 12 months before the case against him began last year. He alleges that he asked the regulator to re-examine Mr Adler. Instead, ASIC pressed on with the case.

“They wanted a scalp,” Mr Porter said. “They wanted a trophy in [ASIC Chairman David] Knott’s cabinet.”

The ASIC case, which Mr Porter described as “childish”, collapsed in court when Mr Adler – who was not called by the prosecution – gave evidence for the defence that Mr Porter was not involved in the transfer of shares. The Director of Public Prosecutions immediately withdrew the case.

Former senior corporate regulator Tony Hartnell, now practising as a lawyer in Sydney, says he believes Mr Porter was “set up”.

“My impression was that certain people wanted to get rid of Porter from management and the board of a company,” he said.