Belgian town ponders fate of missing money

ON a Saturday evening two weeks ago in Zedelgem, townsfolk were disturbed by the wail of a siren and the shriek of tyres, the din of a high-speed car chase that broke the tranquillity of their sleepy city.

Suddenly, cash was flying through the air like confetti at carnival.

Dozens of people rushed out of homes or cars to grab a share of the accidental bounty: about a million euros ($A1.28 million) in all. The small fortune had flown from a safe that cracked open when the fleeing robbers panicked and threw it out the window.

"It was," recalled Mayor Patrick Arnou, "a rainstorm of money." Everyone from kids to the elderly ran out to take part in the free-for-all.

Now, the cops want the money back, and the townspeople face a thorny dilemma: play things badly, and you could face two years in jail. Keep a poker face, and the money could be yours to keep.

A veil of suspicion has fallen over the town: Neighbours watch neighbours as police go door to door, questioning townsfolk about what they did - and what they saw others do.

"People talk about nothing else any more in this town," said Arnou. "In the street itself, there is an atmosphere of bitterness."

Some Zedelgem inhabitants who missed the windfall said they understood the actions of their fellow townsfolk, but insisted the size of the cash pile should have made them think twice. "If it were a 20-euro note," said 77-year-old pensioner Hector Clarysse, "I'd pick it up, too, and join in."

But he added: "If you pick up so much money, you know it's not normal."

It all started when the robbers broke into a home in a neighbouring town, and made off with the safe. The getaway car was soon identified; by chance a motorcycle police officer spotted it and gave chase.

When the cop and robbers hit Zedelgem's Ruddervoordsestraat, a street lined by simple red-brick row houses, the thieves tried to shake off the officer by throwing the safe in his way. As it careened down the asphalt, the box shot open: A cloud of bills - some worth as much as 500 euros - swirled through the air and drifted down.

Dozens of wide-eyed people flooded the street, grabbing handfuls of cash. Drivers got out of their cars, snatched money and sped away. One lady even came out of her house with a broom, Arnou said, and swept the money inside.

Police quickly returned and literally plucked cash from the hands of people who were too slow in stashing it away.

Arnou says authorities have secured nearly half of the million euros that were originally in the safe. But the rest of the cash has disappeared into the hands of those who happened to be on that street in Zedelgem. As for the robbers, they have still not been caught - as police attention was diverted by trying to retrieve the money.

A disheartened Arnou says his citizens should have known better. After all, he points out, the money belongs to innocent people who are now out of 1 million euros.

"What we have seen is beyond decency," said the mayor.

Once the adrenalin rush subsided, some people reached the same conclusion and handed back what they found. Late on Wednesday, a couple drove from Antwerp, some 100 kilometres away, to hand over 16,200 euros they had picked up driving through town.

Arnou designated the mailbox outside city hall as a spot for people to hand over money - no questions asked. One contrite individual wrapped a big wad of money in an envelope and deposited it there.

Not a good idea.

Once word got out, thieves tried to unhinge the heavy stone letterbox over the weekend and make off with its contents. It didn't work and, the postbox stood there half-cracked for days - a sad testament to human greed. On Thursday, Arnou watched as workmen repaired the postbox and encased it deeper in concrete.

The case has triggered a passionate debate in Zedelgem.

"There is a major discussion between people who think it should be given back and those who say 'keep what you got'," Arnou said.

But for local prosecutor Jean-Marie Berkvens, things could not be clearer: "Fraudulent concealment," he said, "carries a maximum jail penalty of two years."

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Aust shares flat amid profit taking

THE Australian sharemarket closed flat as investors reap profits from booming bank stocks and some worries about global growth.

The market was up 0.6 per cent for the week despite it posting losses from Wednesday onwards.

Despite some profit taking in the banks on Friday, Shaw Stockbroking senior dealer Jamie Spiteri said there was more substance in the market currently than there had been in recent years with the right stocks being rewarded.

"Liquidity has actually come back into the top-tiered sector of the market and become increasingly concentrated on those delivering reliable earnings and sustainable distributions to shareholders," he told AAP.

"The banks and financials are in the news because of their record performances in recent times and results that have come out this week, validating some of those uplifts in price."

Westpac posted an 11 per cent lift in first half net profit to $3.304 billion and announced a special dividend of 10 cents per share for shareholders, in addition to an 86 cents per share interim distribution.

Its shares fell 35 cents, or 1.03 per cent, to $33.55.

However the stock is up $7.51, or 29 per cent, for the year.

Of the other retail banks, ANZ rose 10 cents to $31.60, but NAB fell 10 cents to $33.74 and Commonwealth Bank was $1.44, or two per cent, lower at $71.06 after having traded above $73 earlier in the year.

Investment bank Macquarie Group reported a full year net profit of $851 million, up 17 per cent from the prior year and a little above market expectations.

In percentage terms, Macquarie Group rose the most of all stocks on the S&P/ASX200 on Friday, jumping 10.9 per cent, or $4.23, to $43.11.

JB Hi-Fi shares leapt up after the retailer said it expected full-year profit to increase by up to 11 per cent to between $112 million and $116 million.

Its shares closed $1.25, or 8.06 per cent higher, at $16.75.

The big miners made gains amid some commodity price rises overnight.

BHP Billiton recovered some of its losses this week closing 18 cents higher at $31.97 and Rio Tinto gained 58 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $54.49.

KEY FACTS

* At the close on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down half a point at 5,129.5 points.

* The broader All Ordinaries index was 1.3 points higher at 5,105.4 points.

* The June share price index futures contract was six points higher at 5,127 points, with 23,146 contracts traded.

* The price of gold in Sydney was $US1,475.90 per fine ounce, up $US20.60 on Wednesday's closing price of $US1,455.30.

* National turnover was 1.27 billion securities worth $4.33 billion.

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Macquarie shares up on bumper FY profit

Shares in Macquarie Group soared after the investment bank announced a rise in full year profit. Source: AAP

MACQUARIE Group shares have soared to a near three-year high after the financial firm reported a double-digit lift in net profit, boosted dividends and flagged further improvement in the year ahead.

The 17 per cent lift in full year net profit to $851 million beat market expectations of about $820 million and was above the company's own forecasts.

It was achieved on the back of improved market conditions and further cost reductions, with staff numbers falling by 539, or about four per cent, over the year.

"Global market conditions generally improved during the year to 31 March 2013 which, together with strong cost control across the group, led to the improved result," Macquarie chief executive Nicholas Moore said in a statement on Friday.

A $1.25 per share final dividend, 40 per cent franked, took dividends for the full year to $2.00, up from $1.40 in 2012.

In terms of the outlook, Macquarie said earnings in the current year should improve on fiscal 2013 provided market conditions did not deteriorate.

"We expect the year to come will be better than the year we have just had," Mr Moore told reporters.

Investors cheered the Macquarie result, sending the stock up 10.88 per cent, or $4.23, to $43.11 at the close of trade on Friday.

It was the stock's highest finish to the local session since June 2010.

Morningstar head of financials David Ellis said the lift to the dividend was a "pleasant surprise".

"We expect the stock to push higher in coming days due to a combination of consensus upgrades and an improved outlook for dividends and franking," Mr Ellis said in a research note.

Net operating income for fiscal 2013 fell four per cent to $6.7 billion.

Total operating expenses fell 10 per cent to $5.3 billion.

Macquarie Securities (MSG) reported the weakest performance, suffering a full year net loss of $50 million amid subdued market conditions.

The result was however an improvement from a net loss of $194 million in the prior year, led by improved market volumes in the fourth quarter, as well as reduced operating expenses and lower legacy costs.

Macquarie Funds, Banking and Financial Services, Macquarie Capital, and Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities reported improved net profit for fiscal 2013, while profit was broadly in line with the prior year at Corporate and Asset Finance.

Meanwhile, Macquarie said director Catherine Livingstone, who joined the board in 2003, would not seek re-election when her term expired in July.

Also, Macquarie group head of banking and financial services Peter Maher will retire after 12 years in the role, with Greg Ward appointed as his replacement.

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Storm settlement approved by Qld court

A Brisbane court approved an $82.5m settlement between Storm Financial clients and Macquarie Bank. Source: AAP

A BRISBANE court has approved an $82.5 million settlement deed between Storm Financial clients and margin lender Macquarie Bank.

More than 1000 investors who were devastated when the Townsville-based financial services company folded in early 2009 will receive money under the deed, which was given the green light in the Federal Court in Brisbane late on Friday afternoon.

However, the money will not be evenly distributed.

After consideration, Justice John Logan approved a proposed 35 per cent premium for the 315 investors who funded a class action against the bank.

The court heard they will receive a 42 per cent return on the money they lost through Storm, while the remaining investors will receive just 17.6 per cent.

The premium was slammed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as unfair.

However, Justice Logan ruled it gave "apt recognition to the very real risk they assumed in putting their money forward" to fund the litigation.

The decision was met with relief from a small number of the investors who attended.

Justice Logan acknowledged the settlement gave investors certainty of a return from litigation which probably would otherwise have been destined for the High Court and might not have been concluded until 2016.

The court heard the settlement included no admission of liability on behalf of Macquarie, which was alleged to have signed off on multimillion-dollar margin loans without any consideration of whether they could be repaid.

There are still several other ongoing cases against Storm Financial, which is in liquidation, and against banks who lent money to its clients.

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Tokyo shares close 0.76% lower

TOKYO shares have closed 0.76 per cent lower as the yen remained strong, despite a decision by the US central bank to keep its easy money policies in place to bolster the world's biggest economy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index on Thursday ended down 105.31 points at 13,694.04, while the Topix index of all first-section shares fell 0.44 per cent, or 5.09 points, to 1,153.28.

"Foreign investor interest remains strong, but it has eased back without overarching buy catalysts of late," said Kenichi Hirano, market analyst at Tachibana Securities.

"So players will be looking to take profits and adjust positions based on individual corporate earnings and forecasts, more than anything else," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Trading volume was relatively light ahead of a four-day weekend, with Japanese markets closed on Friday and Monday for holidays.

Japan's corporate earnings season then resumes with the likes of Sony, Nissan, Panasonic and Toyota reporting fiscal full-year earnings.

Weakness in the Tokyo market on Thursday came as the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.94 per cent to 14,700.95 on Wednesday following weak employment and manufacturing data.

After a two-day policy meeting, the Federal Reserve kept its bond-buying program in place, and left open the door to more purchases if the US economy slows under Washington's severe budget cuts.

European Central Bank policymakers are to meet on Thursday with widespread speculation that they could cut interest rates from current record lows and also unveil new measures to kick-start stymied bank lending.

Markets were also watching the state of the Chinese economy after fresh data on Wednesday pointed to a slight slowdown in April manufacturing activity.

In Tokyo afternoon forex trade, the US dollar slipped to Y97.29 from Y97.40 in New York on Wednesday afternoon, while the euro weakened to Y128.01 from Y128.37.

A strengthening yen tends to weigh on the Japanese market as it makes the country's exporters less competitive overseas.

Toyota shares fell 1.08 per cent to Y5,490, Nissan was down 2.00 per cent to Y979, while Sony firmed 2.77 per cent to Y1,627 after it said on Wednesday that dozens of top executives would give up their annual bonus.

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Naden says he killed for no good reason

"SHE was as good as anyone."

These were the words Malcolm Naden used to explain why he had killed his cousin Lateesha Nolan.

After seven years on the run, Naden told NSW police there was "no real reason" why he strangled the 24-year-old, cut up her body and then buried it at the edge of a river.

"If it wasn't her, it would have been someone else," he wrote in a series of responses to police.

"I can't answer why I did what I did ... I must leave the whys up to a therapist."

Naden, 39, has pleaded guilty to the 2005 murders of Ms Nolan and Kristy Scholes, both 24, as well as a raft of other charges, including the indecent assault of a 12-year-old girl.

In a statement of facts tendered to the NSW Supreme Court during his sentence hearing on Thursday, the details of their deaths were revealed for the first time.

On January 4, 2005 Naden had a "chance meeting" with his cousin Ms Nolan at their grandparents' house who then offered him a lift, the facts state.

But things turned nasty when Ms Nolan brought up the allegations of indecent assault against him.

Enraged, he strangled her and then drove to Butlers Falls Reserve outside Dubbo where he dug a hole beside the Macquarie River and dismembered her body, which has never been found.

Then, five months later in June, Naden strangled Ms Scholes in his grandparents' bathroom.

He took her body into his bedroom and had sexual intercourse with it before fleeing the house.

During the court proceedings, Naden was described as contradictory and an "enigma".

At one stage Naden told police that at the time of Ms Nolan's murder he was "severely depressed" and described the murder as a "tragedy".

But when questioned by forensic psychiatrist David Greenberg, Naden said he killed because "he can" and because he was "not a sheep".

Professor Greenberg said Naden had claimed to have murdered three other people and described himself as a "serial killer".

But after he was queried again months later, Naden laughed and said he'd lied.

Prof Greenberg said Naden was at "high risk" of reoffending.

While he was not a psychopath, he displayed "psychopathic tendencies", he said.

"(He) reports that he started having fantasies of killing since he was 12 years old ... He states that he will kill again and that his killing days are not over."

The former abattoir worker went on the run in 2005 - days after Ms Scholes' body was discovered in his grandparents' house at Dubbo in NSW's central west.

The court heard Naden appeared "cheerful" after his arrest, but later displayed signs of depression, threatening harm to himself and others.

Naden's barrister, Mark Ierace SC, said that shortly after his arrest, Naden told prison psychologists he wished he could cry and he was glad when the police dog bit him during his capture because he felt "some pain".

The court heard Naden had repeatedly expressed that he wanted life in jail.

The sentencing hearing before Justice Derek Price has been adjourned until next week.

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Man charged after Vic body find

A MAN has been charged with the manslaughter of a man whose body was left for two to three weeks on vacant land by a major Melbourne road.

A 40-year-old man was taken into custody around midday on Wednesday, about four hours before the body was located at Carrum Downs in the city's south, police said on Thursday.

A police spokeswoman said the information was not disclosed earlier for operational reasons.

The Dandenong man has now been charged with manslaughter.

Police have yet to formally identify the victim.

Detective Senior Constable Jennifer Booth had said on Wednesday evening that police hoped a post-mortem examination would help determine what killed the victim.

"I wouldn't imagine there would be a lot of people, foot traffic, here to find something like that right on a major freeway," she told reporters at the scene, near Worsley Road.

"It appears he has been at this location for two to three weeks."

The Dandenong man is appearing before an out-of sessions court hearing on Thursday evening.

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Myer lashed for CEO's disability comments

Myer is facing a backlash as CEO Bernie Brookes said increasing the Medicare levy would hit profits. Source: AAP

MYER has been told to lift disability employment rates after CEO Bernie Brookes weathered a storm of criticism for suggesting a plan to help millions of disabled Australians would damage profits.

The retail boss sparked outrage and threats of a boycott after telling a business conference the planned $350 annual household increase to the Medicare levy "is something they would have spent with us".

The increase, which would part-fund the federal government's planned national insurance care scheme "is not good for our customers and may have an impact", Mr Brookes added.

Myer apologised, but not before suffering a barrage of criticism online.

Disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes was furious about Mr Brookes' comments and demanded Myer employ 10 per cent more disabled people by 2015.

"This would be a real demonstration of Myer's commitment both to people with disability and the broader Australian community," Mr Innes said on a petition he launched on Change.org.

Mr Brookes' comments "demonstrate a lack of support for Australians with disability, half of whom live below the poverty line", he added.

A 2009 Bureau of Statistics report said four million Australians have some type of disability.

Social media users pointed out that many disabled people shop in Myer, with some calling for a store boycott.

"Memo to self: do not spend another buck in a Myer store until (Mr Brookes) delivers a grovelling apology," one person posted to Twitter.

Myer apologised for causing hurt.

"We are very sorry to those who have been hurt by our comments & want to make it very clear that we support the introduction of the NDIS," the company tweeted.

That pledge of support contrasted slightly with a Myer statement posted earlier in the day on Facebook, which offered equivocal support.

"Ideally we would like any government initiative to be funded within the revenue stream it has, rather than through a new or additional tax take," the company said.

Meanwhile NSW Disability Services Minister Andrew Constance issued a challenge of his own - urging Mr Brookes and other business leaders to spend a day with a disabled person and their carers.

Former NSW Labor minister John Della Bosca, now a campaign spokesman for lobby group Every Australian Counts, said the disability care scheme made economic sense.

"There is a fundamental commercial argument here," he said, adding that more disabled people could be in the workforce, paying GST, consuming and paying income tax.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said Mr Brookes' comments were disappointing.

"I'm very disappointed that these kinds of comments distort the proper debate that should accompany such a significant issue," he told AAP.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey on Wednesday made similar remarks, when he said the levy increase would damage already fragile household confidence.

Mr Swan said Mr Hockey was now out in the cold, given the coalition had changed its mind and agreed to support a levy.

"Their change in position has left Joe Hockey exposed for saying the levy would damage the economy," he said.

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Melbourne girl, 9, fights off abductor

A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl who struggled free from a failed kidnapping attempt outside her Melbourne home is now too scared to leave the house, her angry mother says.

Police say the man wanted over the attempted abduction may also be responsible for a sex attack on a Melbourne woman days earlier.

Angela Doria, 38, says her daughter was in her front yard of their Reservoir home on Tuesday evening when the would-be abductor approached her on his bicycle.

The man grabbed the girl's arm but she pulled away from his grip and ran inside to tell her mother what had happened, police said.

"She came inside all white, she was stunned, and said, 'Mum, Mum, a man tried to grab me,'" Ms Doria told AAP on Wednesday.

Ms Doria said she followed the man in her car but he ignored her when she asked him to stop and pedalled away on his silver-coloured pushbike.

"I'm really angry. What if this happens, or worse things happen, with other girls outside their houses? It's not good," she said.

Her daughter had cried all night, Ms Doria said.

"She's very scared. She won't even go out the door."

A CCTV camera captured the man's movements near the Radford Road address, police said.

Detective Senior Constable Erol Ali said the suspect was similar in appearance to a man wanted over an attack on a 42-year-old woman at nearby Fawkner on Friday.

The woman managed to escape when a man grabbed her and told her to take her clothes off as she walked along a bike path.

"It may be the same person," Det Sen Const Ali told reporters.

He described the attempted abduction of the young girl in her own yard as brazen and terrifying.

"To have a perfect stranger climb in and grab you by the arm would be terrifying," he said.

The suspect is described as being in his 60s with a southern European appearance, wearing a denim jacket and jeans.

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Wine research gets $2.4m boost

CHALLENGES faced by the Australian wine industry such as climate change will be the focus of a new research project at the University of Adelaide.

The university will receive $2.4 million from the federal government to set up the Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production.

Professor Vladimir Jiranek says the centre will provide new knowledge, methods and technologies, as well as skilled researchers, to help the wine industry tackle its big challenges.

"The Australian wine industry is facing major challenges through climate change, water restrictions, changing consumer preferences and rising wine alcohol content," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

"This research training initiative comes at a critical time for the industry and will help in retaining the global competitiveness of Australia's wine industry."

Science and Research Minister Don Farrell says the centre's practical assistance will help winegrowers and producers to tap into new markets including Asia's growing middle class.

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