Former HIH Insurance Assistant Secretary Robert Kelly has escaped a jail sentence – one of the few executives to be given a community service penalty over his role in the collapse.

On Friday, Mr Kelly was sentenced to 500 hours of community service, having been found guilty of an offence under the NSW Crimes Act. The Supreme Court found he intentionally made misleading statements to Westpac executives in the hope of obtaining a financial advantage for FAI Insurance.

He was one of several HIH managers to say the company could not produce the necessary consolidated accounts to the bank, when in fact the documents did exist and were available.

Westpac managed a $150 million medium-term loan facility for HIH and required the accounts as part of its duties. By keeping the accounts from Westpac, HIH was able to avoid having overseas lenders call in debts.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says Mr Kelly’s guilty plea – only the sixth in its ongoing investigations into HIH – helped mitigate his sentence. Deputy Director of Enforcement Allan Turton hoped it would send a message to future HIH defendants.

“This outcome demonstrates the merit of an early guilty plea and the provision of co-operation with authorities.”