Former FAI execs acquitted

Three former FAI executives have been acquitted of all charges stemming from the A$5.3 billion ($5.7 billion) HIH collapse.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Roderick Howie yesterday directed the jury to acquit on all charges against FAI's finance director Tim Mainprize, chief operating officer Daniel Wilkie and reinsurance manager Stephen Burroughs.

All three former executives had pleaded not guilty.

The charges related to reinsurance arrangements that FAI General entered into with General Cologne Re Australia in 1998.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chairman Jeff Lucy said the acquittal highlighted the difficulties in prosecuting complex financial cases..