Hotchin frozen assets ruling stays secret

Mark Hotchin Photo / Paul Estcourt

A judgement on whether Mark Hotchin will have asset freezing orders revoked has been delivered but cannot be reported due to a court suppression order.

The former Hanover Finance director has been fighting the decision since December, 2010.

Last Friday, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), the former Securities Commission, confirmed the judgment of Justice Helen Winkelmann had been released but would remain under an "embargoed" until further notice.

Hotchin's lawyer Bruce Stewart, QC, also confirmed on Friday that the decision had been delivered but said it was suppressed, meaning the media are not allowed to report on it.

It has been six months since the Securities Commission used its extended powers to freeze Hotchin's assets to ensure there is money available for investors if they wish to take civil claims against him.

This was the first time the commission used such force since the Securities Act was amended in 2006, and the move was made in the public interest, the organisation said at the time.

Hotchin's camp launched an appeal against the decision, and that hearing went to court in February at the High Court at Auckland.

Certain details, mainly personal financial details, were placed under a suppression order during the proceedings.

Hotchin sold his Parnell home for about $4 million in 2010 to Jack Chen, of Hong Kong listed company Natural dairy.

His almost-finished $30 million Paritai Drive mansion is on the market. It has a 12-car garage, seven bedrooms, a car wash and wine cellar.

Interests associated with Hotchin own a 4.5ha property at Boatshed bay on Waiheke Island which is valued at $9.8 million.

Hotchin is also a director of the Warriors rugby league club.

Property financier Hanover froze $554 million owed to 16,500 investors in 2008.

Hotchin and co-founder Eric Watson took $91 million in dividends in the years before the company defaulted on payments to investors.

The investors subsequently approved a moratorium that pledged to pay them back over five years. Then a year later, in December 2009, Hanover investors agreed to swap their Hanover debentures for shares in Allied Farmers.