Former Regional Express chief executive and executive chairman Lim Kim Hai has been disqualified from managing corporations for four years and ordered to pay an A$800,000 civil penalty over breaches linked to the Australian airline’s financial disclosures. He must also contribute A$150,000 towards the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s legal costs. The order affects Lim personally and does not prevent Rex from continuing flight operations.
The case centred on a 28 February 2023 announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange that Rex was optimistic about recording a positive operating profit for the 2022–23 financial year. At the time, the airline was already recording operating losses and had not prepared a supporting financial forecast, ASIC alleged. Rex subsequently forecast an operating loss of A$35 million and reported a loss of A$31.7 million for the year.
Lim admitted in May 2026 that he had breached his directors’ duties by failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the forecast had a proper basis. He also admitted involvement in Rex’s continuous-disclosure contraventions, including the failure to correct or withdraw the statement promptly.
Justice Ashley Black accepted the agreed sanctions as falling within an appropriate range, while describing the conduct as serious and observing that a higher penalty could have been justified. The decision followed a separate finding that ASIC had not established its case against former non-executive directors John Sharp, Siddharth Khotkar and Lincoln Pan. The proceedings were civil, not criminal.