Where the prosecution alleges fraud based on a false claim that shares were beneficially owned by a particular entity, and the documentary evidence (company records, ASIC filings) consistently shows that entity as the legal owner, the prosecution bears the burden of adducing positive evidence that beneficial ownership was separated from legal ownership. Impressions or assumptions of third parties about ownership are insufficient. Where an indictment contains multiple alternative particulars and the evidence is insufficient on one, a general verdict of guilty cannot stand if it is unclear which particular the jury accepted.
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