In the High Court in Wellington prosecutor Grant Burston today delivered his closing submissions of the Crown's case against Sir Ngatata Love.
Former Treaty of Waitangi negotiator Sir Ngatata Love was fully aware of and approved a $1.5 million payment from a land developer into a trust controlled by his partner, Lorraine Skiffington, which is at the heart of his fraud trial, the Crown says.
In the High Court in Wellington prosecutor Grant Burston today delivered his closing submissions of the Crown's case against Sir Ngatata, who is charged with obtaining significant sums by deception, or alternately obtaining a secret commission.
The Crown says Sir Ngatata signed an agreement in late 2006 with Auckland property developers Redwood Group and Equinox Group to ensure they could lease land owned by the Wellington Tenths Trust, which he chaired. Part of that deal was a $3 million service fee, of which $1.5 million was paid through Pipitea Street Development (PSDL), a company owned by his companion Lorraine Skiffington, soon after the lease was signed, without the trust's knowledge. That money is said to have been used to repay a property loan on a Plimmerton house he and Skiffington co-owned, with a second payment due later.
Mr Burston, who often referred to the defendant as Dr Love, said the evidence – including emails, minutes of board meetings, emails sent by MsSkiffington, and bank documents – showed Sir Ngatata had knowledge of what was going on and that it was only by using Sir Ngatata's name and standing in the community that Sir Ngatata and Ms Skiffington were able to channel the service fees into a personal trust rather than to the Tenths Trust as the developers intended. He pointed to testimony from Shaan Stevens, another PSDL director, as evidence of Sir Ngatata's knowledge.
"Particularly with regard to the money transfers from which he benefited, Ms Skiffington must have been acting on Sir Ngatata's instructions or with his authority," Burston said. "Mr Stevens' account was that Sir Ngatata was 'directing traffic' in the negotiations with the developers. There was no challenge to his evidence about Sir Ngatata's general role.
"It would be remarkable, the Crown submits, that Ms Skiffington was not acting with Sir Ngatata's knowledge and authority. The Crown case has accepted it was Sir Ngatata's position of influence that was being exploited in order to get the benefit of payments. It cannot be the case that what happened with the fruit of that influence went on without Sir Ngatata's knowledge and approval."
Mr Burston said Sir Ngatata had neglected his obligations to the Tenths Trust by not disclosing the $3 million agreed payment from the developers, and the services payment had been deliberately left off lease documents seen by the trust. In 2010, Ms Skiffington demanded documents be returned by the trust's lawyers when she realised they included details of the payment, Mr Burston said.
The Crown prosecutor disputed Sir Ngatata's testimony that the Moana Rd purchase was Ms Skiffington's alone and that his name had only been on the mortgage to help initially. The real estate agent who showed them the house had shown Sir Ngatata around separately and told the court that Sir Ngatata had mentioned a possible earlier settlement, consistent with the Crown's case that Sir Ngatata and Ms Skiffington had bought the house together as a couple, Mr Burston said.
"The mortgage was paid down with the lump sum payments Ms Skiffington obtained through PSDL," Mr Burston said. "That was set up as a device to take that premium by Sir Ngatata. He did know what he was doing. The record of what Sir Ngatata said is consistent with him being a joint owner."
Colin Carruthers, QC, Sir Ngatata's lawyer, will sum up the defence case this afternoon.
(BusinessDesk)
Click the hamburger symbol top right of our homepage to access the Rich List 2016 and other sections.
