Former Financial Controller for FAI’s Corporate and Professional Insurance division Antony Boulden is the country’s latest HIH-related jail inmate.

The 42-year-old faces 12 months of periodic detention after pleading guilty to a single count of being privy to the fraudulent altering of company documents.

He has admitted to altering FAI’s general ledger to effectively reduce claims estimates by $5.5 million. This false representation was reflected in the financial results released to the Australian Stock Exchange for the six months to December 31 1997. It helped turn the stated result from a $2.23 million loss into profit before the acquisition by HIH.

Justice Whealy had previously described Mr Boulden as a “minnow” in the FAI story, but in sentencing him on Friday he was less encouraging. Noting Mr Boulden was “the architect of the means” used to deceive the investment community, he said his “criminality lies in the fact that he did not resist the urgings of his superiors but went along with them.”

Mr Boulden is the sixth person to receive a custodial sentence over the collapse of HIH Insurance and FAI.