Tuesday 12 March 2019 – A decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal is likely to be appealed in the High Court of Australia, in an ongoing defamation action against Nationwide News, the publisher of The Australian.
Businessman Atkinson Charan is intending to seek leave to appeal to the High Court.
Mr Charan said he was disappointed with the Court of Appeal’s judgement on Wednesday, which upheld a Supreme Court finding in favour of Nationwide News.
Mr Charan sued Nationwide News in 2015 over an article in The Australian which incorrectly stated that he was the head of education provider Australian Careers Network after it acquired Phoenix in January 2015. Mr Charan resigned as a director of Australian Careers Network, CTI and AMA on 30 September 2014 when a new Board of Directors were appointed.
Australian Careers Network was incorporated on 17 March 2014 and became a holding company on 30 September 2014, when Mr Charan ceased to be a director of the company. During the period up to 30 September 2014 the company was a shelf company which did not trade.
Mr Charan maintains that he was never actively engaged in the administration of Australian Careers Network and a company which it subsequently acquired, Phoenix. Phoenix was alleged to have offered incentives to sign up to training courses in contravention of government guidelines.
Nationwide News did not seek to prove at the defamation proceedings that Phoenix had done so.
