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Following a four-week trial in the Brisbane District Court, the former CEO and director of Bananacoast Community Credit Union Limited (BCU), Lyndon Allen Kingston, has been sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment after being found guilty of four dishonesty offences, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced.
A jury found Kingston guilty on 12 November 2024 for the following offences committed between December 2015 and August 2017:
- Dishonesty in using his position to gain an advantage for himself by unlawfully receiving payments from two BCU contractors. These payments were made to Kingston without the approval or knowledge of the BCU board (counts one and two).
- Providing misleading and false information to the auditor of BCU in order to conceal the payments (counts five and six).
Kingston was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment on 10 December 2024 for count one, 18 months’ imprisonment for count two, and six-months’ imprisonment for each of counts five and six, all to be served concurrently.
The court has ordered that Kingston be released after serving six months in prison following a $1,000 fine payment on the condition of good behaviour for the 12 months remaining of his sentence.
According to ASIC, the jury were not able to reach a unanimous verdict regarding two further counts that Kingston was charged with (counts three and four), resulting in those counts being discontinued by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) at the sentencing hearing.
Kingston was the CEO and director of BCU during the time the offences were committed, and he previously held professional roles in audit, regulation and as a banking executive.
Commenting on the case, ASIC chair Joe Longo said: “As a director and CEO, Mr Kingston betrayed his position by dishonestly using his role to gain an advantage for himself, then attempting to conceal his wrongdoing.
“ASIC is committed to investigating dishonest conduct by directors and prosecuting such cases.”
Judge Heaton KC, during Kingston’s sentencing hearing, said: “You were in a position of trust which you knew, and you exploited’ and’ …[you] denied the board the opportunity to ensure good governance, transparency, and integrity…”
ASIC confirmed that this matter was prosecuted by the CDPP following the regulator’s investigation and acknowledges the assistance of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in this matter.
On 29 November 2019, Kingston was charged with:
- Three counts of dishonest use of his position as a director of BCU under section 184(2) of the Corporations Act (maximum sentence of imprisonment of five years).
- Two counts of providing false information to BCU under section 1309(1) of the Corporations Act (maximum sentence of imprisonment of five years).
- One count of making a false document with the intention of dishonestly inducing a public official to accept as genuine under section 144.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth) (maximum sentence of imprisonment of 10 years).
- One count of using a false document with the intention of dishonestly inducing a public official to accept as genuine under section 145.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth) (maximum sentence of imprisonment of 10 years).
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