‘Nothing inherently dishonest’, CBL judge finds

Former CBL chief financial officer Carden Mulholland. Photo / Brett Phibbs

After weeks of evidence, a High Court judge could not find former CBL Corporation executives Peter Harris and Carden Mulholland guilty of fraud and other charges, BusinessDesk reports.

In fact, many of the eight charges against the pair fell over at early hurdles, with findings that the Reserve Bank had not issued directions properly.

Justice Michael Robinson’s written judgment released this week 20 gave his reasons for finding the duo not guilty of all Crimes Act charges against them.

Former CBL Corporation chief executive Peter Harris. Photo / Brett Phibbs

His 172-page judgment traverses the hurdles that went unmet by Serious Fraud Office (SFO) lawyer Brian Dickey’s case.

The groups of charges can be broadly split into two: first, charges relating to a transaction with the National Bank of Samoa, which included “obtaining by deception” charges under the act’s sections 240 and 242, and “false accounting” under section 260.

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