Former Murray Goulburn chief Gary Helou got off lightly with $200k slap

FORMER Murray Goulburn chief Gary Helou could have been hit with penalties of millions of dollars but the case was settled for expediency reasons and to limit class action payouts.

Different possibilities: Former Murray Goulburn managing director Gary Helou could have been hit with penalties of millions of dollars if contraventions of Australian Consumer Law were treated as separate offences, rather than in total.

FORMER Murray Goulburn managing director Gary Helou could have been hit with penalties of millions of dollars but the case was settled for expediency reasons and to limit class action payouts.

While Justice Jonathan Beach in the Federal Court last week said Mr Helou could have been liable for at least seven offences, each attracting a maximum penalty of $220,000, The Weekly Times understands the disgraced former director could have been hit with many more infractions.

However, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chose to treat the large number of contraventions as a “single course of conduct” and agreed to settle with Mr Helou for a penalty of $200,000.

Justice Beach agreed with the ACCC, handing Mr Helou the $200,000 penalty and barring him from running a dairy company for three years.

The Weekly Times understands Mr Helou is currently operating a soy milk company and was anxious to minimise the impact on his new business.

The Weekly Times also understands a protracted case and an increase in the number of penalties might have the potential to extend claims in two class action cases, thereby diluting the residual funds Murray Goulburn holds for future payments to dairy farmers.

An ACCC spokesman said the competition watchdog achieved its objectives in bringing the proceedings.

“These were to achieve a public outcome that would serve as a deterrent, encourage greater price transparency and hold to account and penalise relevant individual,” he said.

“The ACCC was keen to minimise any further detriment to farmers.”

Mr Helou earned more than $12 million from Murray Goulburn from when he joined as managing director on October 3, 2011, until he resigned on April 28, 2016, a day after the co-operative announced it was slashing the 2015-16 farmgate milk price from its forecast $6.05 a kg milk solids to $4.75-$5.

In handing down his judgment last week, Justice Beach said five communications by Murray Goulburn during February 2016 alone constituted separate contraventions of consumer law.

ACCC deputy chairman Mick Keogh said the penalty imposed on Mr Helou reflected his seniority at Murray Goulburn and involvement in misleading representations about the farmgate milk price.

Mr Keogh said the ACCC wanted to send a message of deterrence while “letting the industry get on with it”.

“If this case was contested, then it could have continued on for a considerably longer period of time,” he said.

“We got the message from a lot of people that they certainly wanted a penalty and deterrence but the industry wanted to move on.”