Former NewSat CEO's case to go to trial

NewSat’s former CEO Adrian Ballintine has been committed to stand trial for allegedly approving false invoices worth $357,000.

Adrian Ballintine.

Ballintine's trial will be heard before the County Court of Victoria on a date to be fixed.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

Ballintine was charged by Australian corporate regulator ASIC in December last year. The trial was set following a committal hearing before the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

NewSat was a satellite communications provider that was listed on the ASX until 31 August 2015.

Ballintine - who founded NewSat in 1987 - was ousted in June 2015, one month after the company went into administration.

NewSat's financial problems derived from a satellite project called Jabiru-1 that was meant to provide a total of 8.3GHz capacity, with Ka and Ku-band transponders covering South and South-East Asia, the Middle East and East Africa, plus terrestrial gateways in Perth, Adelaide and Cyprus.

Lockheed Martin, which had been building Jabiru-1, issued NewSat with a termination notice after it wasn't paid for its contributions to the project.