Source: ABC                       Date: 08 September, 2011

To say business was bad for Leighton Holdings in August would be putting it mildly. Investors are serving Leighton a class action lawsuit, claiming the firm misled them about problems with infrastructure projects. This comes after three turnovers in the firm’s board of directors this year, a drop in stocks, and a net loss after projecting large returns for the year. Leighton Holdings is the parent company of Leighton Asia, a mining services company operating in Mongolia.

Although the company projects profits of USD 480 million, the company actually lost nearly that much at USD 427 million.

“We say Leighton failed in its corporate governance obligation and failed in its continuous disclosure obligation by not revealing as soon as it should have the difficulties it was facing,” said Andrew Watson, the head of the class action at the law firm Maurice Blackburn.

The representative claimed Leighton misrepresented itself. Leighton's shares have fallen from a high of USD 38 to USD 20 in the past year. The immediate action of the lawsuit alone resulted in a USD 4 fall from USD 28.94