The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s case against four directors of the collapsed airline Regional Express, alleging gross breaches of continuous disclosure laws, could create some real discomfort for the Albanese government, which last month announced an $80 million bailout to keep Rex in the air.

While Rex is in the hands of administrators from EY, three of the four directors named in the ASIC case – former executive chairman Lim Kim Hai, current chairman John Sharp and Lincoln Pan – remain on the board of the airline. A fourth director named by ASIC, Siddharth Khotkar, is no longer on the board.