Prosecutors have dropped charges against two former executives of Bruck Textile Technologies Pty Ltd following a Victorian Court of Appeal ruling that clarified the interpretation of the offence at the centre of the case.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions filed a Notice of Discontinuance on 29 August 2025 and confirmed the move at a Victorian County Court mention on 1 September. The decision came after the Court of Appeal’s case stated judgment on questions of law concerning the offence legislation in DPP (Cth) v Bart [2025] VSCA 161, delivered on 7 July.
Mr Philip James Bart, the company’s former chair, and Mr Ronald George Johnson, its former chief financial officer, had each been committed to stand trial on a single count of preventing the recovery of employee entitlements, contrary to sections 596AB and 1311 of the Corporations Act.
Bruck Textile’s former chief executive, Mr Geoffrey Thomas Parker, had earlier pleaded guilty to the same offence. On 3 April 2024, in the Victorian County Court, he was sentenced to two years and six months’ imprisonment, with immediate release. At the 1 September mention, a suppression order that had prohibited publication of Mr Parker’s guilty plea and sentence was revoked.
Further background to the matter is available in ASIC media releases 22-114MR and 23-177MR.
