Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Centro Properties Group’s former chief executive officer was sued by Australia’s securities regulator after the mall owner’s failure to refinance debt led to shareholder losses of more than A$8 billion ($7.4 billion).

Former CEO Andrew Scott and former Centro Chairman Brian Healey are among defendants in a case brought against former and current directors of the Melbourne-based company in Australia’s federal court over alleged breaches of their duties, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission said today in an e-mailed statement. ASIC is also seeking to disqualify the directors and officers from managing corporations.

Centro had no comment on the ASIC action as it is against individual directors, according to spokesman Mitchell Brown. Angus Urquhart, a spokesman for the individuals named in the case, said they did not have any comment on the matter.

Scott quit at the start of 2008 as Centro struggled to refinance A$3.9 billion of debt accumulated as it acquired 650 U.S. malls. The former Centro CEO had led the company as it spent $9 billion in the two years to May 2007 buying shopping centers in the U.S. Centro’s shares, which lost 99 percent over the past two years, fell 9.2 percent as at 11:55 a.m. in Sydney.

Centro’s financial reports for the 2007 financial year falsely labeled “a significant number” of interest-bearing current liabilities for Centro Properties Ltd., Centro Property Trust and Centro Retail Trust as non-current liabilities, a misclassification that the directors were aware of, ASIC’s complaint alleged.

Centro Properties Ltd. and Centro Property Trust wrongly classified A$1.5 billion of liabilities and Centro Retail Trust A$598 million, the report said.

Current non-executive directors Paul Cooper and James Hall, along with former Chief Financial Officer Romano Nenna and former non-executive directors Samuel Kavourakis, Peter Goldie and Louis Wilkinson are the others named in the action, ASIC said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nichola Saminather in Sydney on nsaminather1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 20, 2009 21:07 EDT