Hussain said he had arrived in Auckland a few weeks ago following the death of his Auckland-based father. He said he visited the Manukau police station the day after his fathers’ funeral to engage over the long-outstanding steroid charges.
“I’m trying to put all this behind me,” he said.
He said the offending underlying the steroid charges - for which his co-accused Mark Rainbow had pleaded guilty to in 2010 - came after he was unable to continue his career in banking after a dispute with his former employer ANZ.
Hussain said he had developed an interest in bodybuilding at the time and “he [Rainbow] was my nutritionist when this stuff kicked off.”
A spokesperson for ANZ referred to a 2010 finding against Hussain by the Employment Relations Authority that “found that Mr Hussain breached the terms of his employment by not carrying out his duties with reasonable care and diligence and not in compliance with the requirements of the Bank’s procedures. In doing so he prejudiced the safe and proper conduct of the employer’s business.”
Hussain insisted he was innocent of ANZ’s allegations, and said the ERA case was uncontested after his own lawyer died shortly before the hearing and he could not afford a replacement.
He said the Serious Fraud Office, who ANZ told the ERA were investigating his conduct over claims the soured mortgages in question had cost the bank $3.5m, had informed him some time ago that there was no case to answer.
Queries sent to the SFO about the matter this morning were not immediately answered.
The ANZ said they were “not aware of any active investigations in relation to Mr Hussain and have not had any contact with him following his resignation in September 2007.”
The ERA awarded ANZ $1.3m in fines and damages, the pursuit of which saw Hussain bankrupted in 2012.
Unusually, given bankruptcy typically only lasts three years, the Insolvency Register still lists Hussain’s bankruptcy as active.
A spokesperson for the Insolvency Service said: “We can confirm that Zamir Hussain is still bankrupt as he hasn’t completed a statement of affairs ... a person remains bankrupt until three years after they file a statement of affairs, or three years after their death.”
Hussain said he was looking forward to returning to Australia, where he had settled with a family and found employment, to first settle his $15,000 fine and then address his decade-long bankruptcy.
Judge Stephen Bonnar said while Hussain pleaded guilty on his first appearance before the court, he was unable to give him much credit given Hussain’s awareness that charges were pending when he left the country in 2009 and the considerable passage of time since.
In sentencing Judge Bonner said a significant fine was necessary to avoid commercial operations seeing the consequences of running afoul of medicines law as a mere “licensing cost”. He noted the potential adverse effects of steroids included student growth, as well as heart and kidney damage.
