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High Court of New Zealand Decisions |
Last Updated: 19 June 2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY
CIV-2013-404-4694 [2015] NZHC 1293
IN THE MATTER
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of an application under the Criminal
Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009
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BETWEEN
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THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE Applicant
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AND
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WAYNE LESLIE DOUGLAS First Respondent
NEAL MEDHURST NICHOLLS Second Respondent
OWEN FRANCIS TALLENTIRE Third Respondent
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Hearing:
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On the Papers
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Appearances:
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D Johnstone and R McCougrey for Applicant
R M Mansfield for Mr Nicholls, Mrs Nicholls and trustee of the
Dime and Boston Trusts
T Simmonds for Paul Capital Ltd and Mr Goodwin as trustee of the Paua
Capital Trust
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Judgment:
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9 June 2015
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JUDGMENT OF WHATA J
This judgment was delivered by Justice Whata on
9 June 2015 at 4.00 p.m., pursuant to r 11.5 of the High Court Rules
Registrar/Deputy Registrar
Date:
Solicitors:
Meredith Connell, Auckland
Copy to:
R M Mansfield, Auckland
T Simmonds, Auckland
THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE v DOUGLAS [2015] NZHC 1293 [9 June
2015]
[1] The Commissioner of Police, Mr Nicholls and various interested
parties have reached agreement in relation to certain restraining
orders that
might be made under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009. They now seek
this Court’s approval of the agreement
reached and any consequential
restraining and other orders.
Background
[2] Helpfully the joint memorandum of counsel sets out the relevant
background namely:
2.1 Capital + Merchant Finance Limited (CMF) traded as a
finance company offering property and investment loans, and
accepting deposits
from the public.
2.2 On 23 November 2007, CMF was placed into receivership owing approximately 7,000 secured debenture holder Investors around
$167 million.
2.3 At relevant times, Mr Nicholls was one of CMF’s directors,
along with Wayne Leslie Douglas (Mr Douglas) and Owen Francis
Tallentire (Mr
Tallentire).
2.4 By March 2010, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had commenced to
investigate a suspected fraud committed by the directors
of CMF.
2.5 On 19 July 2012, following a trial before Wylie J, sitting in the
High Court at Auckland as a Judge alone, each of the directors
was found guilty
of various charges of theft as a person in a special
relationship.
2.6 On 31 August 2012, Wylie J sentenced them to terms
of imprisonment. As is set out in Wylie J’s
sentencing remarks
(annexure A to the affidavit of Stephen Peat dated 31 October 2013), Mr
Nicholls (along with Mr Douglas)
was convicted of three charges,
relating to transactions respectively known as Numeria 1, Clyde 1 and Clyde 2.
Mr Tallentire
was convicted of two charges, relating to the Clyde 1 and Clyde 2
transactions.
2.7 The amounts obtained as a consequence of the Numeria 1, Clyde 1 and
Clyde 2 transations, and the dates on which those amounts
were obtained are as
follows:
(a) Numeria 1 - $6 million on 31 November 2004 and
$1,660,000 on 24 December 2004;
(b) Clyde 1 - $7.7 million on 3 November 2006; and
(c) Clyde 2 - $4.4 million on 3 November 2006.
2.8 On 20 December 2012, the Court of Appeal dismissed appeals by all three respondents against conviction and sentence. On 19 April
2013, the Supreme Court dismissed an application by Mr Douglas and Mr
Nicholls for leave to appeal.
[3] An investigation by Detective Stephen Peat of the New Zealand
Police Asset Recovery Unit disclosed that Mr Nicholls had
contingent interests
in various properties. The parties have agreed upon settlement in relation to
those properties on the following
terms:
(a) Mr Nicholls and/or the interested parties will, within one month of the date of settlement (19 May 2015), arrange for Bank of New Zealand to release rather than enforce its security in respect of the Paua Capital Term Deposit. For this purpose, the Commissioner consents to an alternate security to the value of the current security over the Paua Capital Term Deposit ($225,000) being placed upon
590 Great South Road and/or 720 Remuera Road.
(b) The current restraining orders should be varied to:
(i) Permit registration of an alternate security in favour of Bank of New Zealand upon 590 Great South Road and/or 720
Remuera Road, in accordance with paragraph 4.1(a) above;
and
(ii) Direct that neither the Official Assignee nor any other party should take steps to advertise the fact of restraint of 590
Great South Road and/or 720 Remuera Road, or to register
the restraint against the certificate of title of those properties, pending
expiry of the 12-month period specified
at paragraph 4.1(d)(ii)
below.
(c) The Court should be invited to approve the settlement.
(d) If the settlement is approved, then upon release of the Bank of
New Zealand’s security in accordance with paragraph
4.1(a) above, the
Commissioner will apply to amend the application to seek the following orders
with the other parties’ consent:
(i) Asset forfeiture orders in respect of the Paua Capital Term
Deposit totalling $1,000,000 (plus interest to the date of
the orders), and the
Paua Capital Carter Atmore Funds (plus interest to the date of the
orders);
(ii) A profit forfeiture order stating a benefit amount of the value of the forfeited Paua Capital property plus an agreed sum of
$800,000 to be paid within 12 months from the date of
settlement (19 May 2015). The agreed sum of $800,000 shall be derived from the sale of 590 Great South Road and/or 720 Remuera Road.
(iii) The maximum recoverable amount under the profit
forfeiture order shall be only the Paua Capital property plus
an agreed sum of
$800,000 if it is not paid within 12 months from the date of settlement (19 May
2015) as required in (ii) above.
If this condition applies, the property to be
disposed of in accordance with s 83(1) of the Act to meet this agreed sum is 590
Great
South Road and/or 720 Remuera Road.
(iv) Directions to give effect to the orders at paragraph 4.1(d)(ii)
and (iii) above, as far as they apply, are as follows:
(A) 590 Great South Road and/or 720 Remuera Road are to remain under restraint on the previous terms, except as released under
4.1(d)(iv)(E) and except that either property may be disposed of
as follows below;
(B) The legal owners may sell either or both properties on terms pre-approved by the Official Assignee, such approval not to be unreasonably withheld, and on condition that the agreed sum of
$800,000 shall be paid from the net sale proceeds to the Official Assignee
for disposal in accordance with the above profit forfeiture
order;
and
(C) In the event the agreed sum of $800,000 is not paid to the Official
Assignee within 12 months of the date of the date of settlement
(19 May 2015),
the Official Assignee may enforce the profit forfeiture order by sale of either
590 Great South Road and/or 720 Remuera
Road;
(D) For the purposes of effecting a sale of 590 Great South Road and/or 720 Remuera Road in accordance with paragraph
4.1(d)(iii)(C) above, Guy Francis Sayers of Napier, Official Assignee, shall have the power to execute any deed or instrument in the name of Josephine Bremner Nicholls and
Jeremy James Mallaby Goodwin, and to do anything necessary to give validity
and operation to the deed or instrument.
(E) For the purposes of 4.1(d)(iv)(B) above, the owners of 720
Remuera Road may apply to the ASB Bank to increase the amount of the existing loan facility from $360,000 to $450,000
and the facility is released from restraint and therefore available for the
use of the owners.
(e) The settlement is conditional on the above orders not being opposed by
any party, including the Bank of New Zealand.
Assessment
[4] The threshold for approval is set out at s 95 of the Criminal
Proceeds
(Recovery) Act 2009, namely:
95 High Court must approve settlement between Commissioner and other
party
(1) The Commissioner may enter into a settlement with any person as to the
property or any sum of money to be forfeited to the Crown.
(2) A settlement does not bind the parties unless the High Court
approves it.
(3) The High Court must approve the settlement if it is satisfied that it is
consistent with—
(a) the purposes of this Act; and
(b) the overall interests of justice.
[5] The parties jointly submit settlement is consistent with the purposes of
the
Act in the overall interests of justice, and in particular, they say
that:
(a) There will be a saving of time and especially cost if
the
Commissioner’s application can be dealt with by consent.
(b) The Commissioner considers he has a strong case, but acknowledges a
contested hearing carries some level of risk. In particular,
the extent of the
established offending by Mr Nicholls and/or any financial gain derived by him,
the current financial position of
Mr Nicholls as an undischarged bankrupt and
the competing interests of the interested parties, all of which need to be
acknowledged.
(c) The respondent and the interested parties while considering that
they believe they have respective strong cases, acknowledge
that a
contested hearing carries some level of risk for them also.
(d) The parties wish to resolve the matter in a way that provides them
with control and certainty as to outcome.
[6] I agree. The agreement represents a common sense compromise that serves the purposes of the Act and the overall interests of justice.
[7] There shall be an order approving the settlement accordingly, together
with the following consequential orders as sought:
(a) Immediate variation of the current restraining orders to:
(i) Permit registration of an alternate security in favour of Bank of
New Zealand upon 590 Great South Road and/or 720 Remuera
Road, in accordance
with paragraph 3(a) above.
(ii) Direct that neither the Official Assignee nor any other party
should take steps to advertise the fact of restraint of 590
Great South Road
and/or 720 Remuera Road, or to register the restraint against the Certificate of
Title to those properties, pending
further order of the Court.
(b) An order for non-publication of the details of the properties
referred to above, and the mechanism by which the forfeiture
order is to
be satisfied, until such time as it is satisfied or 19 May 2016 whichever
happens first. For avoidance of doubt,
however, the fact of the forfeiture
order and its approximate amount ($1.8 million) is not the subject of any orders
for non-publication.
(c) Upon the release of the Bank of New Zealand security in accordance
with paragraph 3(a) above, the Commissioner will apply
to amend the application
to seek consent orders in the terms outlined above.
(d) A further joint memorandum confirming the position is to be filed on or before 28 June 2015.
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