Hotchin still in dark over assets

Mark Hotchin. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Hanover's Mark Hotchin has been waiting for more than a month to hear whether or not freezing orders placed over his New Zealand assets will be revoked by the High Court.

The Securities Commission froze Hotchin's assets before Christmas last year. It was the first time it had used such a power, and claimed it was in the public interest.

The commission said at the time the orders were made to ensure there was money available to meet any civil claims investors might bring.

Hotchin appealed against the decision.

Details on his assets, including personal family assets, were suppressed during last month's hearing between the commission and Hotchin.

The suppression orders on these details may be lifted when the ruling on the case is finally delivered, although neither the commission nor the defence know when this will be.

Hotchin's lawyer Bruce Stewart, QC, said the judgment had been delayed because of the backlog of work the Christchurch earthquake had created for the judiciary.

Usually judgments, especially in high-profile cases such as this, are delivered within four weeks.

Hotchin is now living on Queensland's Gold Coast with his wife, Amanda, and their children.

He was in New Zealand on a PR offensive last month. He arrived in the country on February 17, a week after the hearing in the High Court.

Hotchin told the Herald he was trying to resurrect his career and was working as a broker on property deals in Queensland.

He said he was "just trying to earn a buck", and it was not realistic for Hanover investors to expect him to stop "eating or working", and that it had been almost three years "since Hanover was earning".

He sold his family home in Parnell for about $4 million last year, and his incomplete $30 million Paritai Drive mansion in Auckland is on the market.

Interests associated with Hotchin own a 4.5ha property at Boatshed Bay on Waiheke Island which is valued at $9.8 million. Hanover froze $554 million owed to 16,500 investors in 2008.