Australia removes uncertainty on insolvency laws

The Australian government will overturn a 2007 High Court ruling that ranked shareholders equally with unsecured creditors in corporate collapses under plans to give directors more protection when rescuing failing companies. The case of Sons of Gwalia v Margaretic (2007) 231 CLR 160; 232 ALR 232, according to Chris Bowen, Australia’s financial services minister, could increase the cost of debt financing for companies and have a negative impact on business rescue procedures. The decision to overturn the ruling is part of a wider overhaul of Australia’s corporate insolvency laws aimed at reducing the cost and complexity of insolvency administration.

Abu Dhabi court jails Syrians for trafficking Moroccan women

A court in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates has jailed 13 Syrians for trafficking Moroccan women to the UAE to work as prostitutes. Seven men were given life sentences. Five other men and one woman were jailed for 10 years each. A man, the alleged ringleader, had escaped to Syria and was sentenced to life in prison in absentia. An Ethiopian maid was sentenced to two months in jail. The Moroccan women – some as young as 19 – had been lured with the promise of well-paid work and were told they had to work as prostitutes to pay back the money it had allegedly cost to bring them from Morocco. They said they had been locked up, beaten, starved and then chauffeured under guard to clients in hotels and homes. Abu Dhabi police raided three flats after one of the women escaped from a villa in Al Bateen, where she was being held, in October last year.

Former Philippine president cleared for election run

Joseph Estrada, the former Philippine president, has been cleared to make a run for the presidency again in elections scheduled for 10 May. On 20 January, the Commission on Elections rejected a challenge from a group of lawyers that Estrada should be banned due to a constitutional requirement barring presidents from seeking re-election after serving one six-year term. Estrada, who was removed from office in 2001, argued that he never completed his first term. The movie star turned politician was elected by a large margin in 1998, but was removed midway through his term by an army-backed uprising amid allegations of corruption. He was convicted of plunder in 2007 but pardoned weeks later. The commission ruled that the constitutional ban did not apply to Estrada, as the ban pertains to an incumbent president and not to someone previously elected.

Dutch MP on trial for hate speech

Geert Wilders, a right-wing Dutch MP, has appeared in an Amsterdam court on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims.
Wilders is being charged over his 2008 film Fitna, which urged Muslims to tear out ‘hate-filled’ passages from the Quran and juxtaposes images of the 9/11 attacks on the US with quotations from the text. ‘Fitna’ is an Arabic word which has numerous meanings, including ‘sedition’ and ‘temptation’, and appears in the Quran. The release of Fitna prompted protests in Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia and Afghanistan. Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, described the film as ‘offensively anti-Islamic’. If convicted, Wilders would face a maximum sentence of 15 months in jail.