South Canterbury Finance verdicts released

Verdicts have been handed down by the High Court at Timaru today by His Honour Justice Heath following the conclusion of the South Canterbury Finance Limited (South Canterbury) trial.

Former South Canterbury Chief Executive Lachie McLeod has been acquitted on all charges.

Former South Canterbury Director Robert Alexander White has been acquitted on all charges.

Former South Canterbury Director Edward Oral Sullivan has been found guilty of five charges and acquitted on the remaining four charges.

All defendants were acquitted on the charge relating to the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme (Guarantee Scheme).

Charges were laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) against Messrs McLeod, White and Sullivan in respect to South Canterbury in December 2011 after a 14 month-long investigation.

The majority of the charges related to specific transactions entered into by South Canterbury involving allegedly undisclosed, related party lending.

The SFO further alleged that persons associated with South Canterbury unlawfully obtained the benefit of the Guarantee Scheme for South Canterbury by failing to disclose to the Crown that the company had entered into related party lending.

The SFO estimated the total value of the allegedly fraudulent transactions at $1.7 billion, which included an estimated $1.58 billion from entering the Guarantee Scheme.

The five month-long SCF trial concluded in August this year.

SFO Director, Julie Read referred to the difficulties in bringing a case of this nature before the Court. “This was a difficult and complex prosecution. While the SFO was unsuccessful in part, given the scale of the collapse and the impact it had on investors, it was clearly in the public interest to put all matters before the Court. I am also satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to warrant bringing this prosecution – the Court, not the SFO, is the ultimate arbiter of whether or not that evidence is sufficient to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. In this case, we have failed to satisfy the Court to the required standard in relation to Mr McLeod and Mr White but I consider that the case was investigated thoroughly and that our counsel presented the best possible case to the Court.”

The SFO are considering the Judge’s reasons for the decisions today.

Mr Sullivan has been remanded on bail and will be sentenced on 12 December 2014.

ENDS

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