Sparring continues over insider trading hearing

Auckland High Court judge Hugh Williams will attempt to bring the spat between the Securities Commission and high-profile defendants in the Tranz Rail insider trading case to a head tomorrow.

The Crown Law Office has opposed a bid by Midavia Rail Investments - owned by Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite - to shift the court case onto the civil list in the High Court at Auckland instead the commission's chosen venue, Wellington.

Williams has scheduled a phone conference this morning with counsel to "decide the future conduct" of this proceeding.

The commission was outraged when Midavia upped its nose at it by filing its statement of defence in Auckland instead of Wellington.

The jousting took on political overtones when Wellington High Court judge John Wild joined the fray last year by weighing in on the commission's side.

Wild upped the ante by taking a poke at the commercial list - on which Williams is the senior judge - by implying the technical issues outlined in the Auckland judge's minute was "a demonstration of the obsolete nature of the commercial list".

Wild rubbed salt in the wound by noting that once the commission's action was filed, the case was promptly assigned to a "commercially very-experienced judge".

That judge, Forrest Miller, has been on the Bench only 12 months, but he has a wide experience in commercial litigation, specialising in securities, regulatory and competition law.

But Williams - who is clearly a more experienced as judge - has been plugged by Auckland barristers as more suitable for the case.