World

The South Australian Government Has Increased Speeding Fines By Up To 500%

Published

6 years ago

August 7, 2019

Governments can often change the laws for many reasons, some to help their citizens interest’s and some to help their own interests.

In this article, we’re going to learn about how the South Australian government has increased driving related fines by up to 500% – in order to fill their recent state budget loss of over AUD $500m due to unpaid GST (taxes).

The increase in fines is reported to generate an extra AUD $79m in revenue for the government. Starting from July 1st, 2019.

Here is an infographic that covers the specific fines and how much they’ve increased by:

Source: Scammell.com.au

Corporate companies are hit the hardest, with original speeding fines being $300 AUD and now an astonishing $1,500 AUD – which is a little over $1,010 USD.

Some of the biggest increases are to fines for speeding more than 30 kilometres per hour over the limit, which will increase by 60 per cent.

The speeding fine for traveling at 30–45kph over the limit will increase from $920 to $1,472, while drivers going more than 45kph over will face a fine of $1,658 — up from $1,036.

The state’s Treasurer, Rob Lucas said the Government would also significantly increase the fine for people who were caught speeding in a company car.

So this begs the question – how do the people of the affected state respond and deal with these matters? Especially when they’re struggling financially, as paying any fine within itself is frustrating – especially when the fees have soared by up to 500%.

So although the SA government is making an attempt to recover their recent financial losses, they are still over $400m short – it will be interesting to see how they will recover the funds.

As with all matters, it’s important to also see the other side of the coin – in this case, it’s the opposing government. We will see what they have had to say about this –

The former Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said the Liberal Party (current state Government) had broken its 2018 election promise to lower costs.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a motorist, a public transport user, a tradie or a hospital worker, no South Australian is safe from this massive hike in fees and charges,” Mr Mullighan said.

“This is an attack on households, an attack on businesses and an attack on South Australians who are just trying to manage their cost of living at a time of low inflation and low growth in their wages.”

South Australian Council of Social Service CEO, Ross Womersley said people on low incomes would be the hardest hit.

It’s a strong reminder to take caution on the roads and put your phone away, the fines will keep on increasing and it’s not going to be great when we’re faced with an exorbitant fine to pay.

World

TRG Chairman Khaishgi and CEO Aslam implicated in $150 million fraud

Published

6 days ago

June 23, 2025

Jenny Jackson

In a scathing 52-page decision, the Sindh High Court has found that TRG Pakistan’s management was acting fraudulently and that Bermuda-based Greentree Holdings historic and prospective purchase of TRG shares were illegal, fraudulent and oppressive.

The Sindh High Court has further directed TRGP to immediately hold board elections that have been overdue and illegally withheld by the existing board since January 14, 2025.

In the landmark ruling, the Sindh High Court has blocked the attempted takeover of TRG Pakistan Limited by Greentree Holdings, declaring that the shares acquired by Greentree, nearly 30% of TRG’s stock, were unlawfully financed using TRG’s funds in violation of Section 86(2) of the Companies Act 2017.

“Having concluded that the affairs of TRGP are being conducted in an unlawful and fraudulent manner and in a manner oppressive to members such as the Petitioner (Zia Chishti), the case falls for corrective orders under sub-section (2) of section 286 of the Companies Act,” Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry concluded.

The case was brought by TRGP former CEO and founder Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti against TRG Pakistan, its associate TRG International and TRG International’s wholly-owned shell company Greentree Limited. In addition, the case named AKD Securities for managing Greentree’s illegal tender offer as well as various regulators requiring that they act to perform their regulatory duties.

The case centred around the dispute that shell company Greentree Limited was fraudulently using TRG Pakistan’s own funds to purchase TRG Pakistan’s shares in order to give control to Zia Chishti’s former partners Mohammed Khaishgi, Hasnain Aslam and Pinebridge Investments.

According to the case facts, the Chairman of TRG Pakistan Mohammed Khaishgi and the CEO of TRG Pakistan Hasnain Aslam masterminded the $150 million fraud. They did so together with Hong Kong based fund manager Pinebridge who has two nominees on TRG Pakistan’s board, Mr. John Leone and Mr. Patrick McGinnis.

According to the court papers, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis set up a shell company called Greentree which they secretly controlled and from which they started buying up shares of TRG Pakistan. The fraud was that Greentree was using TRG Pakistan’s funds itself. The idea was to give Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis control over TRG Pakistan even though they owned less than 1% of the company, lawyers of the petitioner told the court.

This was all part of a broader battle for control over TRG Pakistan that is raging between Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis on one side and TRG Pakistan founder Zia Chishti on the other side. Zia Chishti has been trying to retake control of TRG Pakistan after he was forced to resign in 2021 based on sexual misconduct allegations made by a former employee of his. This year those allegations were shown to be without basis in litigation that Chishti launched in the United Kingdom against The Telegraph newspaper which had printed the allegations. The Telegraph was forced to apologize for 13 separate articles it published about Chishti and paid him damages and legal costs.

After Chishti resigned in 2021, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis moved to take total control over TRG Pakistan and its various subsidiaries including TRG International and to block out Chishti. The Sindh High Court’s ruling today has reversed that effort, ruling the scheme fraudulent, illegal, and oppressive.

It now appears that Zia Chishti will take control of TRG Pakistan in short order when elections are called. He and his family are now the largest shareholders with over 30% interest. He is closely followed by companies related to Jahangir Siddiqui & Company which have over a 20% interest. The result appears to be a complete vindication for Zia Chishti and damning for his rivals Aslam, Khaishgi, Leone, and McGinnis who have been ruled to have been conducting a fraud.

TRG Pakistan’s share price declined by over 8% on the news on heavy volume. Market experts say that this was because the tender offer at Rs 75 was gone and that now shares would trade closer to their natural value. Presently the shares are trading at Rs 59 per share.

According to the court ruling, since 2021, shell company Greentree had purchased approximately 30% of TRG shares using $80 million of TRG’s own money, which means that that the directors of TRG Pakistan allowed company assets to be funneled through offshore affiliates TRG International and Greentree for acquiring TRG’s shares – a move deemed both fraudulent and oppressive to minority shareholders. The Sindh High Court also found illegal Greentree’s further attempt to purchase another 35% of TRG shares using another $70 million of TRG’s money in a tender offer.

The ruling is a major victory for the tech entrepreneur Zia Chishti against his former partners and the legal ruling paves the way for him to take control of TRG in a few weeks.