Five former executives at Philip Services Corp. have received temporary bans from acting as directors or officers of public companies after admitting they failed to disclose key information about the company’s financial state in 1997.

On Friday, an Ontario Securities Commission hearing panel accepted arguments that the men did not know they were required to reveal plans for massive charges and writedowns when they issued a prospectus for a new US$364-million share offering in late 1997.

“There is no evidence before us today that the respondents had knowledge of the inappropriate disclosure,” said OSC commissioner Paul Bates.

The OSC banned former Philip CEO Allen Fracassi from acting as a director or officer of a company for 12 years, while his brother Philip, who was the company’s COO, received a 10-year ban. Former CFO Marvin Boughton also received a 10-year ban, as did John Woodcroft, who was executive vp. Graham Hoey, former senior vice-president of finance, received a five-year ban.

Each of the men was also ordered to pay $100,000 toward the OSC’s investigation costs.

There were no fines imposed in the case.

The OSC alleged the company’s top executives failed to provide “full, true and plain” disclosure to investors when Philip issued a prospectus for a $364 million share issue that was completed in November, 1997, just months before the slew of bad earnings news was revealed.

In the settlement deal, the executives agreed they had begun to prepare internal documents in the summer of 1997 estimating the value of anticipated special charges that would have to be taken, but did not disclose the writedown plans in the prospectus that fall.

A sixth Philip executive has not settled his case. An OSC hearing into allegations against Robert Waxman, the former head of the company’s metals division, is scheduled to begin next Wednesday.