And hot off ... the email trail

Email messages unveiled by the Serious Fraud Office in court yesterday included a senior executive telling then-Kiwi Group chief executive Craig Norgate of "an ethical problem".

Max Parkin was the general manager of Kiwi Dairy Products. According to the SFO, he exchanged emails with Paul Marra, the chief executive of Kiwi Milk Products, before apologetically approaching Norgate on November 20, 2000.

"Sorry, but I need a ruling from my Board.

"This is a policy issue, and as you can see I have an ethical problem.

"Please assist (I don't ask often) ... " Parkin said.

The next day, Norgate emailed Marra - the punctuation and spelling of the originals are retained here - asking: "what is this about?"

Marra: "Just a wanker at work ... we asked them to supply mpc [milk protein concentrate] in plain bags has refused until we say who customer is ... we dont do that neither do mainland."

On November 7, Parkin had asked Marra whether the certification body Industrial Trading Group (ITG) had approved the export sale of milk protein concentrate.

Marra responded in capitals: "ITS A LOCAL SALE THATS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW."

Parkin replied: "I will not make product for export unless via ITG."

Marra: "who says it is export ... since when did you assome the nzdb role"

Eight days later, Parkin emailed that Kiwi Dairy Products "cannot be a partyy to this unless we receive from someone in KMP a document which states that we are only selling producvt for the local market. Paul, this is a serious issue. (esp at present)"

Marra replied: "this is absolute crap ... "