Bribery charges for former Auckland Transport boss Murray Noone

AT says it is probing 'allegations relating to the potential misuse of public monies' in its road contracts division. Photo / NZ Herald

Three top transport officials accused of bribery totalling more than $1 million look set to go to trial.

Former senior Auckland Transport manager Murray John Noone, 52, faces six bribery charges to which he has pleaded not guilty.

His co-defendants have also denied the offending.Barrie Kenneth James George, 68, faces four charges of accepting bribes in his previous roles as a road maintenance contracts manager with Auckland Transport and, before that, as infrastructure manager with the Rodney council.

Stephen James Borlase, 51, has stepped down temporarily as head of Projenz while facing eight charges of bribing the other two in their capacity as public officials and four charges of doctoring hours worked by subcontractors in invoices to the Rodney council for company services.

The trio appeared in the High Court at Auckland this morning where a trial date more than a year away was set.The September 2016 trial is expected to last eight weeks.

Noone, who had name suppression until recently, resigned as Auckland Transport's road corridor maintenance manager in October 2013, when the SFO stepped in after an internal inquiry commissioned by the council body.

A court previously heard the SFO alleged he accepted more than $1 million in payments, travel, accommodation and other benefits.The three defendants were remanded on bail until trial.