Gardener denies he knew discounts were 'too good to be true'

Pukekohe market gardener Franklin Wai Shing has told the High Court at Auckland that he trusted Fruitfed branch manager Jason Dark and had no reason to suspect the substantial discounts he was offering were not legitimate.

Dark's untimely death three years ago remains central to a $2 million civil case PGG Wrightson is taking against two Pukekohe market gardening firms, Wai Shing and Hira Bhana.

The listed rural services company claims that between 2000 and 2002 Dark passed on large-scale discounts to the two firms. While it is not alleging fraud, it claims the gardeners were aware the discounts were irregular and they did not do enough to redress the situation.

But Wai Shing said Dark had "twisted his arm" to make a $200,000 bulk order of chemicals and other supplies. Averaged out, the overall discount was about 30 per cent.

Wai Shing rejected suggestions by PGG Wrightson lawyer Kit Toogood, QC, that the prices were "too good to be true".

He said he believed that the discounts were part of a legitimate attempt to talk him into a bulk buy - something he didn't usually do.

Dark had explained the discounts by saying he was passing on rebates from the manufacturers and that Williams & Kettle (then owner of Fruitfed) had turned in an excellent profit that year.

Dark's body was found in the Waikato River on December 3, 2002 - the day after he had been due to answer inquiries from his head office about irregularities in his invoicing.

Under cross-examination, Wai Shing accepted that he had been visited by Dark on the afternoon of December 2, 2002. He said he was aware that Dark was on leave from his job but was never told he had been suspended.

Toogood put it to Wai Shing that Dark told him "exactly what kind of trouble he was in" and that the dealings between the two were at the very heart of the problem.

Wai Shing emphatically denied this. The case continues.