SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Fraud Office defends difficult prosecution involving acquittal of 2 of 3 SCF chiefs

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The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is defending its decision to bring charges against three former South Canterbury Finance (SCF) heads after two of the trio were acquitted yesterday.

Former South Canterbury Finance chief executive Lachie McLeod, 50, and former director, accountant Robert White, 70, were found not guilty on all charges by Justice Paul Heath after a long and complex trial.

The pair are now considering legal action against the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for bringing the charges.

Former director, lawyer Edward Oral Sullivan, 72, was found guilty on five of nine charges, including making false statements and misuse of a document for pecuniary advantage. [He was director of SCF for 20 years from 23/04/90 to 31/03/10].

The SFO’s director, Julie Read, referred to the difficulties in bringing a case of this nature before the court. “This was a difficult and complex prosecution,” she said. [Read more…]

Bankrupt insurance company boss gets four-and-a-half years jail for fraud

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GRANT MALCOLM HERBERT – former insurance company boss – and now a bankrupt – has been jailed for four years and six months after his conviction last month on 24 fraud charges.

Insurance broker Grant Herbert leaves the Auckland District Court. Photo / Dean Purcell

Grant Malcolm Herbert was sentenced in the Auckland District Court. [Photo credit / Dean Purcell. NZ Herald]

Herbert was owner and managing director from 1991 of insurance brokerage Herbert Insurance Group, which collapsed in March 2011.

An investigation by the Serious Fraud Office found that he had received premiums from clients but failed to forward about $2.5 million of it to insurers, having some customers uninsured, the court heard. [Read more…]

John Grisham – novelist – says sorry for child porn remarks

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Novelist John Grisham has apologised for saying in an interview with the British Newspaper – The Daily Telegraph, – that many men imprisoned for child pornography offenses in the US probably just had too much to drink and “pushed the wrong buttons.”

Ending Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Child Trafficking for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) interim general manager Debbi Tohill said Grisham’s argument was incorrect.

“Mr Grisham is clearly not taking into account the effect that the use of sexual images of children has on the children who are used for these images.

“His argument is a sad indictment of this.

“Whilst the perpetrators of the physical crimes deserve harsh punishment, as long as demand continues for child sexual abuse images, we will continue to see our most vulnerable children abused and the people who access child pornography need to be held accountable.”

Full story: AP – 17/10/14 See: – http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/10629092/Grisham-says-sorry-for-child-porn-remarks

Note: ECPAT Child Alert Trust – also known as ECPAT NZ Inc. – was registered as a New Zealand Charity on 19/02/2010. Reg. No. CC43653. Its website is www.ecpat.org.nz

Former SCF director – Edward Sullivan – found guilty of fraud in relation to $1.58B company collapse

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A former director of South Canterbury Finance (SCF) has been found guilty of what has been billed the “biggest fraud in New Zealand’s history”, in relation to the company’s $1.58 billion collapse in 2010. In the High Court at Timaru this morning, Edward Sullivan, aged 72, a former lawyer, was found guilty of five of the nine charges he faced. He has been remanded on bail  and will face sentencing on 12 December 2014.

Edward Sullivan SCF director

Photo: Stuff News: Edward Sullivan (far left)

Justice Heath criticised the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into the company’s collapse, stating there might have been documents that showed transactions were being concealed but the “deficiencies in the investigation by the SFO office meant that evidence did not exist.”

Another CFC former director Bob White, 70, and former chief executive, accountant Lachie McLeod, 50, were found Not guilty on ALL counts.

The men faced a total of 18 charges under the Crimes Act, including theft by a person in a special relationship, obtaining by deception, false statements by the promoter of a company, and false accounting – each carrying maximum penalties ranging from seven to 10 years’ jail.

Full story: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/10612568/SCF-trial-has-one-guilty-two-not-guilty-verdicts

[Read more…]

Text to high-flier: ‘I’ve got a girl to sell’

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A 17-year-old girl acted as a “pimp” for a wealthy Auckland businessman – finding and enticing girls as young as 15 to have sex with him in return for drugs and cash, prosecutors say.

The pair allegedly preyed on methamphetamine-addicted teenagers, the 17-year-old sourcing the girls and delivering them to the man’s multimillion-dollar inner-Auckland property.

The man, 56, and the girl, now aged 20, are on trial in the Auckland District Court over events alleged to have taken place from October 2010 to December 2011.

The Crown says as well as inducing 15-year-old girls to provide “commercial sexual services” in return for methamphetamine, the pair conspired to drug one of the teenagers with the date-rape drug GHB.

A text from the girl read: “She [the alleged victim] is very hard for me to tolerate lol. Let’s spike her please.” [Read more…]