Media Release

9 June 2017

Actions risked New Zealand’s reputation

Simon William Hall, a former employee of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (F&P Healthcare), has been sentenced in the Auckland District Court today for receiving secret commissions from Middle Eastern clients of F&P Healthcare and for deceiving his employer.

Mr Hall has been sentenced to eight months of home detention.

Mr Hall pleaded guilty in March to one Crimes Act charge of ‘Obtaining by deception’ and two charges under Section 8 of the Secret Commissions Act laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Mr Hall committed the offences while in his role as an Area Manager based in Auckland and dealing with companies in the Middle Eastern market. The charges related to payments received by Mr Hall for approving a Saudi Arabian company as a distributor of F&P Healthcare products and a single payment from a Jordanian company which also became a distributor. F&P Healthcare had no knowledge that Mr Hall received those payments. In addition to those offences, Mr Hall made false representations to F&P Healthcare regarding commission payments for installations of products that never took place.

Mr Hall received approximately USD $213,000 in payments.

SFO Director, Julie Read said, “Mr Hall let down his employer and potentially tarnished the reputation of how New Zealand entities do business with overseas operators. New Zealand is known for corruption free business practices and the SFO will continue to act in cases like this to maintain that reputation.”

ENDS

Background to investigation

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of products and systems for the use in respiratory care, acute care and the treatment of sleep apnoea.

Simon Hall was employed by F&P Healthcare in February 2002 and was dismissed in December 2014. Shortly after, F&P Healthcare referred allegations regarding Mr Hall, to the Serious Fraud Office.

Crimes Act offences
Section 240 Obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception

(1) Every one is guilty of obtaining by deception or causing loss by deception who, by any deception and without claim of right,—

(a) obtains ownership or possession of, or control over, any property, or any privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit, or valuable consideration, directly or indirectly; or

(b) in incurring any debt or liability, obtains credit; or

(c) induces or causes any other person to deliver over, execute, make, accept, endorse, destroy, or alter any document or thing capable of being used to derive a pecuniary advantage; or

(d) causes loss to any other person.

(1A)

Every person is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years who, without reasonable excuse, sells, transfers, or otherwise makes available any document or thing capable of being used to derive a pecuniary advantage knowing that, by deception and without claim of right, the document or thing was, or was caused to be, delivered, executed, made, accepted, endorsed, or altered.

(2) In this section, deception means—

(a) a false representation, whether oral, documentary, or by conduct, where the person making the representation intends to deceive any other person and—

(i) knows that it is false in a material particular; or

(ii) is reckless as to whether it is false in a material particular; or

(b) an omission to disclose a material particular, with intent to deceive any person, in circumstances where there is a duty to disclose it; or

(c) a fraudulent device, trick, or stratagem used with intent to deceive any person.

Secret Commissions Act offences
Section 8 Receiving secret reward for procuring contracts an offence

(1) Every person is guilty of an offence who advises any person to enter into a contract with a third person and receives or agrees to receive from that third person, without the knowledge and consent of the person so advised, any gift or consideration as an inducement or reward for the giving of that advice or the procuring of that contract, unless the person giving that advice himself acts as the agent of the third person in entering into the contract, or is to the knowledge of the person so advised the agent of that third person.

(2) For the purposes of this section a person shall be deemed to advise another person to enter into a contract if he makes to that other person any statement or suggestion with intent to induce him to enter into the contract.

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