UPDATED: A former company accountant at failed motor vehicle finance company National Finance 2000 has pleaded guilty to three of four charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office.John Gray appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning at a third heari
UPDATED: A former company accountant at failed motor vehicle finance company National Finance 2000 has pleaded guilty to three of four charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office.
John Gray appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning at a third hearing for an indication of sentence.
The SFO dropped one charge after Gray agreed to pay reparations of $50,000 and agreed to give evidence against a co-defendant.
At the Auckland District Court Gray was convicted of three charges and was remanded for sentence on November 26.
Mr Gray had been seeking an indication of home detention but Judge Rod Joyce indicated the conviction would still carry an imprisonment term.
The indication given today was reduced to between 18 months and two years compared to an earlier indication of two and a half years.
National Finance 2000 collapsed in 2006 owing investors more than $21 million. Three years later Gray and director Trevor Allan Ludlow were charged with misusing investors' funds. A trial date has yet to be set for Mr Ludlow's case.
In a statement released later this afternoon the SFO confirmed Gray pleaded guilty to theft by a person in a special relationship, which related to misuse of National Finance funds in breach of its Trust Deed requirements.
Gray also pled guilty to a charge of false accounting whereby he concealed the true recipient of funds by creating a false document.
SFO Chief Executive, Adam Feeley, said “This is a very satisfying result, and the outcome of a very comprehensive investigation.”
Mr Feeley said that in the past 12 months the SFO had significantly shifted its priorities to ensure there were speedier outcomes on the corporate failures which had generated the most public concern.
“Results such as this demonstrate that there are serious consequences for breaching the law and help ensure the investing public can have greater confidence in the integrity of our financial markets.”
Mr Feeley said that the SFO were currently investigating 19 cases of suspected serious fraud involving an estimated $630 million, and prosecuting a further 32 cases involving and estimated $265 million.
“There are enormous challenges with cases of this scale and complexity. However, our strategy of focusing on fewer, but larger cases which have had greater public impact, and achieving faster results, is beginning to pay dividends.”
The former directors of National Finance are also facing criminal charges laid by the Ministry of Economic Development's National Enforcement Unit in 2008.
It is alleged that directors Anthony Banbrook, Carol Braithwaite and Mr Ludlow failed to disclose material transactions between the company and related parties such as Payless Cars companies and Great North Management.
