Dover boss collapses at royal commission
The banking royal commission has suddenly stopped proceedings after a key witness, the head of Dover Financial Terry McMaster, collapsed while giving evidence.
Commissioner Kenneth Hayne cleared the court room so that an ambulance could be called for Mr McMaster.
Mr McMaster's collapse came after a strong exchange with counsel assisting Mark Costello. Dover Financial is one of the 10 biggest financial planning outfits in Australia and has 408 planners on its licence.
Mr Costello had only minutes earlier accused Mr McMaster of giving misleading evidence. Mr McMaster had just been taken to a Dover Financial document - the Client Protection Policy - that showed the group had developed a policy to ensure it wore no liability for the misdeeds of any of its planners.
Just prior to Mr McMaster's collapse, Mr Costello said to Mr McMaster: "I put it to you, it is Orwellian to describe this as a client protection policy". This was because the policy protected Dover but not its clients.
Mr McMaster said it was regretable that the document had been called a client protection policy but said it was there to protect all parties.
Mr Costello then asked Mr McMaster if he was being misleading in his answers. Shortly thereafter Mr McMaster could be heard breathing heavily before collapsing.
More to come....