Mr Hubbard is revered in Timaru, where he lived with wife Jean in a $265,000 white brick back-section home - more retiree's bolthole than multimillionaire's playpad - before he died in a car crash three years ago, aged 83.
From his own pocket, he gave millions to charities, including the Salvation Army, Auckland's Parenting Place, the Presbyterian Church, Scouts and Otago University cancer research.
Locals reckon he offered pioneering and visionary support to help farmers grow the region into a dairy powerhouse. Without it, the main street might be desolate, dominated by charity stores and dollar shops. Even now, you're more likely to find a skinny jeans hipster than someone willing to offer a bad word about him.
Even after SCF's spectacular collapse in August 2010 and the ensuing $1.58 billion government bailout. Even after the largest fraud trial in NZ history at which, had he been alive, Mr Hubbard would have been front and centre in the dock.
Even after yesterday in the High Court at Timaru, when his former right-hand man, former SCF director and lawyer Edward Sullivan, 72, was found guilty on five of nine charges, including making false statements and misuse of a document for pecuniary advantage.
Allan Hubbard. Photo / NZME
Two of his ex-colleagues, chief executive Lachie McLeod, 50, and accountant Robert White, 70, were cleared of any wrongdoing.
The trial heard the three defendants had major concerns with Mr Hubbard's "archaic" practices and the way he was conducting business.
On July 25, 2007, the trio prepared an "extraordinary" letter to Mr Hubbard expressing their concerns with the business practices.
But despite the concerns, nothing changed, the Crown argued. The defendants "did not just turn a blind eye" but took affirmative actions that breached the controls on the company, it was said.
The complex trial lasted 61 days and heard from more than 40 witnesses.
While Mr Hubbard was not there to fight his corner, or explain his actions, a clear picture emerged of the major shareholder and chairman who was clearly in charge of the company's affairs.
The Crown painted him as a man who evaded and detested accounting and legal regulations.
Former director Stuart Nattrass said he believed Mr Hubbard was "ungovernable".
Defence lawyers said Mr Hubbard was the "alter ego of the company" who would "go it alone" to devise and implement complicated related party loans.
"There can be little doubt that Mr Hubbard was an extremely influential, stubborn and determined man ... [he] enjoyed and demanded significant control over a company that he largely treated as his own," the defence argued.
Justice Paul Heath agreed. In his verdict yesterday, the judge expressed disbelief at the antiquated ledger entries.
He concluded Mr Hubbard was so stuck in his ways that he was "unable or unwilling to grasp the need to adapt existing governance and management procedures" to modern day business practices.
"Unfortunately, the corporate governance practices that Mr Hubbard insisted on maintaining, Mr Hubbard's view of the greater security of related party lending, the lack of transparency in publicly available documents about the extent and nature of such lending, and the inability of his co-directors to influence a change in his attitude directly contributed to the failure of the company and the losses suffered," the judge said.
Allan Hubbard had a simple home and car and is remembered fondly in Timaru. Picture / NZME.
But what also emerged during the trial was his unwavering dedication to investors - here was a man who would "rather sell everything and live in a tent" before he saw any debenture holder miss out on their funds.
"Effectively he conducted the business on the back of a personal guarantee to investors," the court heard.
Hastings businessman Sam Kelt said he had felt "extraordinarily privileged" go into business with Mr Hubbard, "who at that stage was viewed in a similar frame as the Fletcher family ... an iconic Kiwi".
While his personal frugality was the stuff of legend - at the 50th anniversary of his accountancy firm, Hubbard Churcher & Co, the partners replaced his threadbare lounge suite as a gift - it extended to his business practices. The trial heard that when Mr Hubbard stayed at Auckland's Hyatt Hotel, then owned by SCF, he would walk the hallways at night switching off all the lights.
Vaughn Nicolson was hired by Hubbard & Churcher about 2000 as an IT manager to implement a computerised way of working. "Allan had realised that computers had become a necessary evil but he never had one," said Mr Nicolson, 48, who worked for him for almost seven years.
His old boss arrived at the office every day at 6.30am and opened his mail.
One Timaru High St shop owner, who did not wish to be named, heard the mail came in a locked box that only Mr Hubbard and his wife had a key for. "For Allan Hubbard, it was all up here," he said, tapping his right temple.
Even though he claimed to have had money tied up in SCF when the global financial crisis happened, he holds no ill will towards Mr Hubbard.
"Without him, this town would be nowhere."
Mr Nicolson, like many in the town, still cannot get his head around the trial. "It just doesn't add up," he said. "Who was Allan defrauding? It certainly wasn't for personal gain. It is the most baffling of cases."
SCF tale
• 1926: South Canterbury Finance Ltd started as a regional lender.
• November 2008: SCF enters government's retail deposit guarantee scheme.
• June 2010: Allan Hubbard stands down as chairman.
• August 2010: SCF goes into receivership. Government makes $1.6 billion bail out.
• September 2, 2011: Hubbard a "person of interest" in SFO probe when he dies in head-on car crash near Oamaru.
• December 2011: SFO lays charges against Lachie McLeod, Edward Sullivan, Robert White, Graeme Brown and Terrence Hutton.
• Aug-Oct 2013: Charges against Brown and Hutton dropped.
• March 12, 2014: Trial begins at High Court in Timaru.
• Yesterday: Sullivan found guilty of five of nine charges. McLeod and White acquitted.
Source: APNZ
