FORMER Gunns Ltd chairman John Gay has appeared in the Launceston Magistrates Court on insider trading charges but will not enter a plea until next year.
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Mr Gay's counsel, Bill Griffiths, requested a first appearance adjournment to February 14. Persons charged with indictable matters are usually required to reappear within four weeks.
Magistrate Tim Hill said he was satisfied there were sufficient reasons to justify the longer than usual adjournment.
Mr Gay, of Clarence Street, Launceston, is charged with two counts of being an insider disposing of shares.
The charges surfaced last month, just days before the company's Annual General Meeting.
The 68-year-old is alleged to have made a $3 million profit from the sale of shares in December 2009, two months before Gunns Ltd reported a drop in its half-year earnings.
Mr Gay sold three million shares on December 2, 2009, and 404,178 shares two days later.
On February 22, 2010, the company reported the drop and shares fell from 88 cents to 68.5 cents.
The Australian Securities Investments Commission has alleged Mr Gay was "a person who possessed inside information and who knew or ought reasonably to have known that the information was not generally available or if the information was generally available a reasonable person would expect it to have a material effect on the price or value of shares in Gunns Ltd.''
Mr Gay stood down as the timber company's chief in May 2010.
