A former Auckland liquidator has been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on charges brought by the Serious Fraud
Office.
Geoffrey Martin Smith (67) stole approximately $130,000 from two companies while acting as their liquidator. He was
convicted in September following a judge-alone trial on two counts of ‘Theft by person in a special relationship’ and
two counts of ‘Perjury’ under the Crimes Act, and two counts of ‘Obstructing an investigation’ under the Serious Fraud
Office Act.
The perjury charges relate to documents filed by Mr Smith in civil proceedings concerning the same liquidation
activities. The charges for obstructing an investigation relate to the defendant’s intentional failure to comply with
two separate notices issued under section 9 of the Serious Fraud Office Act regarding the investigation into his
affairs.
The Director of the SFO, Julie Read, said, “Mr Smith abused his position of trust to defraud two companies in his
capacity as liquidator. He also actively misled the court in proceedings relating to those companies and obstructed an
SFO investigation. These offences resulted in additional public funds being spent to resolve this case. The SFO welcomes
the court’s sentencing decision which recognised the seriousness of the perjury and obstruction charges.”