A North Shore district court judge has rejected the submissions of a former senior Auckland Transport official, accused of taking more than $1 million in bribes, for his name to be suppressed past next week.
The man and his partner claimed they would suffer extreme hardship from the publication of his name, which has already been published at the start of a Serious Fraud Office investigation, but according to the NZ Herald, Judge Pippa Sinclair rejected their submissions, and said there was significant public interest in the case, given he faced six serious charges of corruptly receiving money in his previous capacity as a public official.
According to Judge Sinclair the Serious Fraud Office has alleged the defendant accepted more than $1 million worth of bribes in payments, travel, accommodation, and other benefits between April 2008 and July 2013.
Sinclair extended name suppression until 4pm on Tuesday after the man’s lawyer, Paul Wicks QC, said he would lodge an appeal in the big court against her decision.
The judge ordered that evidence about the man’s current employment and about that of his partner and her health be suppressed.
The judge remanded the man and two co-defendants at large until early next month after being told by serious fraud office layer Brian Dickey that the case was highly likely to be transferred to the high court.
All three have entered not guilty pleas.
A fellow former Auckland Transport (AT) employee Barrie Kenneth James George faces four charges of accepting bribes in his previous role as road maintenance contract manager for AT, and as infrastructure manager for the previous Rodney District Council before the amalgamation of the super city in 2010.
Both of the former Auckland Transport officials are accused of receiving the bribes from engineering project management company Progeny (2005) Limited.
The NZ Herald reports that Stephen James Borlase, 51, has steeped down temporarily as head of that company while facing eight charges of bribing the pair, and four of doctoring hours worked by Progeny subcontractors in invoices submitted to the previous Rodney Council.
The case continues.
