FORMER prominent Mount Gambier businessman Frank Emmanuel Templeton, 71, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday facing six charges of making untrue declarations between August 2013 and April 2014.
Templeton, whose iconic steel fabrication company Templeton Constructions collapsed in 2014, appeared briefly before his case was adjourned to July 24 for instructions.
Court documents showed the Department of Public Prosecutions made a courtesy appearance without a file indicating prosecutors were not ready to proceed on the day.
Templeton’s court appearance follows an investigation by the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.
Commissioner Bruce Lander said in a statement on May 29 a summons outlining the charges was served on the defendant on May 3.
He was charged with “six counts of wilfully making a statutory declaration, knowing that declaration to be untrue in a material particular”.
It is alleged the offences occurred in Templeton’s capacity as a public officer in Mount Gambier between 7 August 2013 and 28 April 2014.
Templeton was in the news in 2014 when Templeton Constructions was liquidated resulting in 19 employees being stood down.
At the time unsecured creditors were trying to recoup losses of up to $1.5m, and employees were owed an estimated $500,000.
The company’s assets were sold collectively to a regional company on September 16, 2014.
The Border Watch wants to make it clear there was no correlation between Templeton’s court appearance (including the charges against him) and the collapse of Templeton Constructions at press time yesterday.
