The Federal Court has banned a promoter of educational materials to indigenous people from entering Northern Territory indigenous communities to conduct his business after finding that he had engaged in unconscionable conduct.
The court orders are against Mr Ramon Keshow, a businessman from Perth, who conducted his business under the business names of National Maths Academy, Drysdale Correspondence Schools and Easy Buying Services.
The banning orders are for three years and restrain Mr Keshow and any servants or agents.
Mr Keshow has also been barred from receiving automatic payments in the Northern Territory for goods or services without full disclosure of their effect.
In his judgment yesterday, Justice Mansfield said: "The picture is that for a significant number of the respondent's customers he was just taking their money and providing nothing for it".
Justice Mansfield noted that one woman paid $10,440 from 1998 to 2004 through fortnightly automatic deductions from her bank account and received none of the educational materials that Mr Keshow promised her. Mr Keshow made no attempt to stop these payments or refund any money to this woman.
He noted the woman was indigenous and living in relative poverty. English is her second language and she has poor English language skills. She was not in paid employment.
She had little or no experience in business dealings or commercial documents and had limited exposure to such transactions. She did not fully understand the consequences of signing the forms would be the regular and indefinite withdrawal of money from her account on a fortnightly basis.
Although the full extent of the conduct is still unclear Mr Keshow through his businesses had a total of 563 customers across both Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The total receipts of his businesses from banking records totalled $799,828. Justice Mansfield noted that the evidence indicates that the respondent accessed all the funds in the several (business) accounts from time to time as his own.
"This decision is very significant and should send a clear message to businesses to deal openly and fairly and provide enough detail for consumers to make an informed decision, regardless of who they are, their educational levels or where they live", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said. "The ACCC will pursue such breaches of the law to protect consumers.
"Justice Mansfield has also found that Mr Keshow has not only engaged in unconscionable conduct against the eight consumers identified by the ACCC but in a broader sense acted unconscionably against consumers living in indigenous communities in the Northern Territory".