Former Rex chief executive and executive chair Lim Kim Hai has been barred from managing corporations for four years and ordered to pay an A$800,000 civil penalty over the airline’s profit forecast and disclosure failures.
The New South Wales Supreme Court made the consent orders on October 20. Lim must also pay A$150,000 towards ASIC’s costs, with both sums due within 28 days.
The case concerned a February 2023 market announcement predicting an operating profit for the financial year ending that June. Lim admitted failing to take reasonable steps to ensure there were grounds for the forecast, and failing to ensure it was corrected or withdrawn when those grounds were absent.
Justice Black also declared that Lim was involved in Rex’s failure to disclose the relevant profit-and-loss information to the Australian Securities Exchange. The disqualification runs from the date of the order.
This was a civil-penalty decision following admissions, not a criminal conviction. ASIC and Lim jointly proposed the sanctions; the judge still had to decide whether they were appropriate.
Black accepted that the contraventions were serious and that Lim’s senior role mattered. His admissions reduced the issues and expense of the proceedings. The court found the combined disqualification and financial penalty fell within an appropriate range.
The result does not reverse the separate June decision dismissing ASIC’s case against three former non-executive directors and part of its case against Rex. ASIC says it filed a notice of intention to appeal that decision in August.
Rex entered voluntary administration in July 2024 and was later acquired by Air T. The management ban is imposed on Lim personally.
Official Supreme Court judgment
