BRAD COOPER RELEASE BRINGS HIH SAGA TO A CLOSE

Sydney ex-businessman Brad Cooper is scheduled to be released from jail today, bringing some kind of closure to the 2001 collapse of Australian insurer HIH, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Mr Cooper was sentenced to eight years in jail in June 2006 ( IIN24, June 23 2006), after being found to have bribed HIH finance director Bill Howard. Mr Cooper was given loger in jail than his associate Rodney Adler and HIH boss Ray Williams. Mr Cooper has been imprisoned for five years and is the last of the trio to be released. Mr Adler was released in October 2007, while Mr Williams came out in January 2008. Mr Cooper was found guilty of moving money out of HIH shortly before the insurer collapsed, achieved by the faking of invoices and bribery. While Mr Adler and Mr Williams pleaded guilty to certain charges, Mr Cooper, once the owner of burglar alarm company Home Security International, has maintained his innocence.