Hamilton businessman alleged to have swapped new appliances with old ones from home
In total, the Crown alleges the defendant spent about $111,000 paying off his personal loan, paying himself broker fees, and buying various personal items including weedkiller and spray unit, smoke alarm, grooming his car, Tigers Paw shower cleaner, Wet and Forget, and a pair of Hush Puppies shoes and a shoe care kit.
'There was no reason I can think of why [accused] would buy Hush Puppies care of [company].
'There was no clothing allowance.'
The witness said the defendant was paid a vehicle allowance of $550 a month to cover petrol or related expenses, and he never saw the weedsprayer in the building.
Asked by Crown solicitor Tom Sutcliffe if the premises had a shower, the man said it didn't.
'The only facility it had was one toilet and one hand basin,' he said, adding he didn't know why they'd need Wet and Forget.
'I have never seen the driveway cleaned up.'
The defendant told the jury on Monday he hadn't committed any crimes.
'I'm simply carrying the can for a poorly governed company,' he said.
The accused said a 'disconnect' had developed between himself and the board of directors.
The defendant, the name of the company, and its directors have interim name suppression.
The accused is fighting three charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and obtaining by deception between 2015 and 2018
Detailing how the company began, the director said he was approached by an associate about setting up a finance company, and as he and his wife had just sold their own company, they thought it would be a 'great opportunity' to get involved.
Advertise with NZME.
'I knew [defendant] and all the others and felt quite comfortable with the arrangement at the time.'
Each of the four men put in about $20,000 for shares in the company, along with a further $180,000 each to generate a return on investment and provide security for the defendant operating the company.
However, it wasn't long, perhaps four to six months, that he and his wife needed to put more money into the company.
'[In the end], it was $2.3 million.'
He'd never been involved in a finance company before, so he relied on the defendant to run it.
'When you put a lot of money in, you have to back the person running the company operationally ... I felt quite comfortable.'
The director said they had a broker working out of the same premises, and he would get paid a $600 fee for any work he did on a loan.
It's alleged the defendant would end up banking the $600 himself or splitting it with the finance broker on site.
Asked by Sutcliffe about how the broker fees worked, the man said he would expect them to be paid out through a bank or bank transfer.
'But [accused] had told us it was quite common for broker fees to also be paid by cash ... I didn't realise it was happening all the time.
'And if it was happening, I would have thought it would be properly recorded.'
The witness said he was unaware that a 'significant' number of cheques were being banked and cashed.
'We had no idea.'
The witness said he was aware the defendant allegedly received half of the total $16,800 in broker fees, nor was he aware of a further $5,250 that was intended to go to the broker.
He also confirmed the company is no longer operating.
The trial, being overseen by Judge Noel Cocurullo, continues.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Basil fires parting shot at 'gutless bureaucrats'
A Queenstown identity twice prosecuted by the Electoral Commission says he has taken a pragmatic approach to ending a four-year court saga. Former property developer Basil Walker, who was granted a discharge without conviction by Judge Catriona Doyle in Queenstown's court this week, says his opinion of the Crown agency, which runs the country's elections, is unchanged. "They're a gutless, mean-spirited pack of bureaucrats." The 73-year-old was charged last year under the Electoral Act for signing a false declaration that he was eligible to vote in the 2023 general election. He claims he only did so because he was unaware his name was on the commission's Corrupt Practices List at the time, which made him ineligible to vote. Walker was put on the list in 2021 after he was convicted and fined for failing to file an election expenses return after the 2020 election — he'd stood as an independent candidate for the Invercargill electorate on a plank of saving the Tiwai aluminium smelter. His lawyer later described his delay in filing the return as a "peaceable protest". Speaking to Mountain Scene after his court hearing this week, Walker says he'd been "completely unaware" his 2021 conviction had meant his name had gone on the Corrupt Practices List for three years. He'd never heard of the list, because no one told him about it. "It wasn't in the judicial notes, it wasn't in the statement of charges, the police didn't know, the prosecution didn't know and the court didn't know." He agreed to a plea deal — admitting the false declaration charge in exchange for the police supporting his discharge application — because he's a "very pragmatic person". Although he'd been prepared to defend himself at a judge-alone trial this week, he knew that if he'd lost and been convicted, he would've gone back on the Corrupt Practices List for another three years. The idea of his name being associated with corruption is upsetting, and he values his right to vote in next year's general election, he says. "Corruption is not something any New Zealander likes, is it?" However, both the prosecutions against him have been "convoluted, messed up and poorly administrated" by the Electoral Commission, he says. All he'd done was file a late expenses return, and make a declaration contrary to a list he'd never heard of.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Kāinga Ora sells off ‘landmark' Wellington Dixon Street Flats
The property's most recent rating valuation is $18.9m. Kāinga Ora said the extent of work needed to upgrade the building is 'extremely high'. The Dixon Street Flats have sat derelict for nearly a year. Photo / Mark Mitchell 'After carefully considering the cost and complexities of continuing to use this historic building for social housing, we decided selling it would be the best course of action as it would open up opportunities for others to make use of the building.' Kāinga Ora deputy chief executive central Daniel Soughtton said. Housing Minister Chris Bishop said the sale is 'a good outcome for Wellington'. Bishop revealed cost estimates for remediation and strengthening were costed at more than $125m, more than $1m per apartment. 'Instead of allowing the Dixon Street Flats to become another derelict Wellington eyesore, Taranaki Whānui Limited has purchased the property using their right of first refusal under their Treaty settlement. I look forward to seeing what they do with it,' Bishop said. The iwi have the first right of refusal for Crown land in the area under the Port Nicholson Block Settlement. The agency also noted the high ongoing cost for security on the building. Last year, it said it faced 'significant challenges' with squatters and unauthorised entry, spending $124,012 on security guards between June 3 and August 18. Last year, the agency would not confirm its plans for the site, but a Tenancy Tribunal document showed it was considering selling the property. The Dixon Street Flats have always been used as social housing, being built in the 1940s as a part of the first Labour Government's state housing programme. They were the second block of social housing apartments to ever be built in New Zealand, after the first were completed in Berhampore. The building has the highest level of heritage protection, listed as a Category 1, and is not listed as earthquake-prone on MBIE's earthquake-prone building register. Heritage New Zealand describes the building as an 'archetype of Modernist apartment blocks in New Zealand' that 'marked a new era of domestic architecture'. The Dixon St flats viewed from the intersection of Ghuznee and Willis Streets in 1943. Photo / Heritage New Zealand Wellington City Heritage said when it was built, the project 'was of a magnitude unprecedented in the history of domestic architecture in New Zealand and caused considerable excitement'. When the building was boarded up last year, chairman of Inner-City Wellington, the local resident's association, Reverend Stephen King urged Kāinga Ora to make progress on the site, saying leaving it vacant is 'outrageous'. 'It's a cornerstone to our inner city residential population', King said at the time. The nearby Gordon Wilson Flats were built in the same era as the Dixon Street Flats as part of the Government's state housing programme. The 11-storey building is now owned by Victoria University and has sat empty on The Terrace for more than a decade. The Gordon Wilson flats at 320 The Terrace, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell Bishop yesterday passed an amendment to the Resource Management Act to remove the protected heritage status of the Gordon Wilson flats making them eligible for demolition. The university is currently working through a business case for the site, with the preference for building new purpose-built student accommodation. Ethan Manera is a New Zealand Herald journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 as a broadcast journalist with Newstalk ZB and is interested in local issues, politics, and property in the capital. He can be emailed at
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Polkinghorne may give evidence at inquest into wife's death
Philip Polkinghorne. Photo: RNZ The Auckland eye surgeon found not guilty of killing his wife after a lengthy murder trial last year may give evidence at her coronial inquest next year. Pauline Hanna, who managed the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine as an executive director at Counties Manukau Health, died in her Remuera home on April 5, 2021. Her husband, former Auckland eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne, was found not guilty of her murder after an eight-week trial. A pre-hearing conference took place in the North Shore District Court this morning with a number of key figures from the trial appearing in court once again. Polkinghorne and his lawyer Ron Mansfield were present, alongside Pauline's brother Bruce Hanna, and niece Rose, and lawyer Alysha McClintock representing the police. There was also a large media presence, including author Steve Braunias who has written a book about the trial, Polkinghorne, and documentary maker Mark McNeill. Coroner Tania Tetitaha laid out a timeline for lawyers to produce evidence for the inquest. She gave them 28 days to come up with agreed facts and contested evidence. The Coroner asked if Polkinghorne would be available to appear before the inquest in August next year. His lawyer Ron Mansfield said Polkinghorne could make himself available. She deemed it relevant, saying he would know best the stressors in her life leading up to Hanna's death, as her husband. Mansfield raised concerns around how far back evidence would be collected for the inquest, calling a submission filed by the police a "pseudo-prosecution" of Polkinghorne. "The main issue is going to be what happened on that evening, I have no doubt about that," Tetitaha said. It was revealed in July that Australian sex worker Madison Ashton, Polkinghorne's former lover, had asked to give evidence at the inquest. Coroner Tetitaha brought up Ashton's potential evidence, saying it would be useful to hear from Polkinghorne on what was presented. The Crown argued during his criminal trial held in the High Court at Auckland that Polkinghorne killed his wife after a possible violent struggle, while he may have been under the influence of methamphetamine. His defence maintained Hanna died by suicide after many years of struggling with depression, compounded by work-related stress. The inquest is expected to get under way in August 2026.
