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A twice-bankrupted businessman facing jail for trying to skip the country owing creditors millions has been bailed to a farm connected to one of the "dragons" from the television show Dragon's Den.
Kim Hilton Spencer was arrested at Auckland Airport on June 18. He has pleaded guilty to
Insolvency Act charges of attempting to quit the country without permission and changing address without informing the Official Assignee, the public official who administers bankrupts' affairs.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 12 months' jail.
After he was arrested, the Official Assignee discovered he had sold the $3.5 million house on the cliffs at Hatfields Beach north of Auckland owned by his family trust. Bankrupts are required to make full disclosure of their financial affairs.
Spencer first went bankrupt in 1997 with debts of $2.5 million. The Official Assignee estimates he owes creditors in his current bankruptcy $4.4 million.
The Herald has learned that authorities are concerned he was planning to join his wife, Susan Spencer, in Australia and consider him a flight risk despite the Auckland District Court ordering him to relinquish his passport.
Concerns were held that he might try to leave the country using marine contacts.
Susan Spencer left New Zealand shortly before she was adjudged bankrupt in July and has not returned or contacted the Official Assignee.
Spencer, who is due to be sentenced on September 22, was ordered to report weekly to police and bailed to live at 109 Vipond Rd, Wellsford. Land documents record that address as a 328ha farm with a 2007 valuation of $4.8 million, owned by Honk Farms.
Companies Office records list Paul Webb, one of the multimillionaires from Dragon's Den, as a director of that company and of another involved in the farm's ownership structure.
The show's producers defended the selection of Mr Webb as one of the show's "dragons" after a Herald on Sunday investigation in 2006 questioned how the show could promote Mr Webb as being worth $20 million only three months after he emerged from a three-year ban from involvement in running a company.
Mr Webb was behind Cityjet airline, which collapsed in 1999, and four other failed companies which left debts of at least $2.8 million.
The October 2003 banning order came three years after he was made bankrupt by a former landlord.
The National Enforcement Unit reportedly said Webb's companies failed due to "mismanagement", including excessive withdrawals by Mr Webb.
Spencer was a property developer specialising in subdividing farms. One of his companies was called Vipond Holdings. It is not clear whether it owned property in the area.
Neither Spencer nor Mr Webb could be contacted yesterday.
The Spencers' Hatfields Beach property is occupied by Darrin Don, who confirmed he entered an unconditional agreement to buy the property in April. He said he had yet to pay and that administrators of the Spencers' bankruptcies had been in touch.
Mr Don was convicted of fraud in 1999 and of managing companies while banned in 2004.
