Dead man misled everyone with accounts, defence says

Franklin Wai Shing, of the Wai Shing market garden business in Pukekohe, walks out of the Auckland High Court yesterday. Picture / Dean Purcell

Jason Dark - whose untimely death three years ago continues to hang over the $2 million lawsuit against two Pukekohe market gardening firms - misled everyone involved in the case, defence lawyer Graham Kohler said in his opening submission to the High Court in Auckland.

Kohler argued that suggestions of a conspiracy between Dark and his client firm, Wai Shing, were implausible.

PGG Wrightson alleges that between 2000 and 2002 Dark, in his role as manager of the Fruitfed Pukekohe branch, passed on $1.09 million in cost savings and free goods to Wai Shing and $1.22 million to another market gardening firm, Hira Bhana.

PGG Wrightson lawyers claimed there was no evidence of Dark getting any significant benefit from his fraud.

The listed rural services company - which now owns Fruitfed - is suing Wai Shing and Hira Bhana for costs related to Dark's deception.

Dark was found dead in the Waikato River, close to a Wai Shing property, on December 3, 2002 - the day after he had been due to answer inquiries about irregularities in his invoicing.

Kohler said a large number of Fruitfed Pukekohe customers had exactly the same problems as Wai Shing. Wai Shing had, in fact, done more than any other client to address this. It would be a "very odd form of fraud or conspiracy" for the conspirators to draw attention to it by preparing invoices.

"Why would Wai Shing send in reconciliation, phone Penrose (Fruitfed head office), contact Fruitfed auditors, etc," he said. "No one would have known that Jason Dark would die once the 'fraud' was discovered. Inevitably, his activities would be discovered."

PGG Wrightson lawyer Kit Toogood, QC, has argued that Wai Shing and Hira Bhana did just enough complaining about the irregular accounts to cover themselves but not enough to risk having to repay any money.

"They did not complain to anyone other than Mr Dark, because they knew that the deals they were getting were more competitive and that they were unauthorised," Toogood said in his opening submission.

The case continues.