Probiotec sales queries at 'Powdergate' hearing

Allegations that milk powder may have been illegally exported by Kiwi Dairy's rival - Waikato-based New Zealand Dairy Group - were made at the "Powdergate" hearing yesterday.

In cross examination, defence lawyer Paul Davison QC, asked witness Grant Waterhouse if he knew that a Dairy Group subsidiary, called New Zealand Dairy Ingredients (NZDI), was selling to an Australian company called Probiotec.

Waterhouse said he was aware of allegations about that exporting but no concrete evidence had ever been found.

Davison presented the court with a declaration by former NZDI general manager Mark Dewdney which suggested the company had a system for exporting to Probiotec which involved sending invoices to Dairy Board company ITG.

It was not clear from the evidence that this exporting was necessarily illegal.

But Waterhouse conceded that he would have investigated further if he had known about it at the time.