Charges dropped against ex-Citi head Stephen Roberts in ANZ cartel case

Former head of Citi Australia Stephen Roberts has had charges against him dropped in the ANZ share issue cartel case.

Former Citi head of country Stephen Roberts has had charges against him in the ANZ cartel case dropped.

Charges have been dropped against former Citi country head Stephen Roberts in the ANZ share issue cartel case.

The notice of discontinuance against Mr Roberts hit Citi inboxes on August 9, after commonwealth prosecutor Lindsay Muir notified the bank it wouldn’t press ahead against him.

Mr Roberts said he was pleased the CDPP had dropped charges against him.

“The past several years have been extremely difficult for me and my family, and I am now looking forward to putting this behind me,” he said.

However, two other Citi figures remain before the courts in the high-profile cartel case that alleges five executives colluded in a $2.5bn capital raising for ANZ in 2015.

Citi bankers Itay Tuchman and John McLean are each facing two charges in the case.

Mr Roberts had been accused of two charges of violating laws to prevent cartel activity.

The move comes after lawyers had sought to quash the case in July, asking the Federal Court to throw out the charges.

The case, which has been dragging on for years, has loomed large for several of the defendants, including those who no longer live in Australia.

In December Justice Michael Wigney told the court it was “intolerable” for serious charges to remain “hanging over the heads” of the accused.

Commonwealth prosecutors were ordered to bring forward new charges in July, with Justice Wigney saying the current charges did “not sufficiently identify the essential factual ingredients of the alleged offences”.

Bankers John McLean, Rick Moscati, Michael Ormaechea, Michael Richardson remain named as accused in the proceedings.

Individuals convicted of cartel offences face 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $420,000.

Corporations convicted face a maximum penalty of $10m or three times the total benefits obtained through the offences.

The cartel case was brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleging ANZ, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank and six executives colluded in a 2015 capital raising.

The ACCC lobbied the case into the courts in 2018, in a test of its powers to bring action for cartel behaviour. The regulator alleges the banks arranged to limit trading in ANZ shares by selling, on each day, no more than 7 per cent of the average daily volume of the trade, with the aim of not exceeding 5 per cent.

A case management hearing is due on Wednesday, with the prosecution and accused set to receive ACCC documents in response to a subpoena issued by Citi. The case has been set down for a six month trial starting in April 2022.