Sims confident fleeing Foster will be caught

Competition tsar Rod Sims is confident police will arrest fugitive conman Peter Foster, who boasted on the weekend that he had fled to Fiji.

Mr Sims, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said the hunt for Foster was in its "early days".

Foster went on the run last month, having failed to appear on September 27 at the Federal Court in Brisbane, where he was found guilty of contempt of court over his involvement in weight-loss scam SensaSlim.

He again failed to attend court on Thursday, when he was sentenced by Justice John Logan to serve a minimum of 18 months' jail.

In an interview with News Corp papers published on Sunday, Foster said he would apply for asylum in Fiji and told Justice Logan to "shove it up his jacksie".

Mr Sims said it was unfortunate that the court order had not been carried out "but I think the judgment is very important and I don't expect he's having a great time at the moment. This will eventually sort itself out. At some stage he will be caught and the sentence will be carried out."

The ACCC brought contempt proceedings against Foster for violating a 2005 court order prohibiting him from involvement in the weight-loss industry for five years.

Justice Logan found that Foster was involved in the SensaSlim scam from December 2009 and sentenced him to three years' jail, to serve 18 months with the remainder suspended.

The court heard that Melbourne underworld identity Mick Gatto and his business partner John Khoury backed Foster in marketing SensaSlim to potential franchisees.

"It's important that when the court makes an order that those orders have effect," Mr Sims said. "So, when orders are violated ... it's appropriate that be penalised pretty heavily."

A Federal Police spokeswoman said a fresh warrant issued for Foster's arrest on October 24 could be enforced by any police force in Australia.