Hotchin admits he is family trust beneficiary

Mark Hotchin. File photo / Brett Phibbs

Hanover Finance founder Mark Hotchin has admitted he remains the discretionary beneficiary of a family trust amid claims his personal wealth is "very low".

The embattled financier restated his claim that he would be "reasonably broke" after paying a tax bill and other debts in an interview with Mike Hosking on radio station Newstalk ZB this morning.

But he said he remained a beneficiary of the trust and fellow trustees could choose to release cash or assets to him.

"But at the moment I doubt they would."

Hanover and its associate, United Finance, froze $554 million of investors' funds in 2008.

Hotchin's lifestyle since then has sparked anger.

Attention has been focused particularly on his $30 million mansion under construction in Paritai Drive, Auckland, and revelations he hosted a lavish 50th birthday bash with dozens of friends at a luxury resort in Fiji.

He also went took his family on holiday at Hawaii at a cost of "about" $25,000 a month and currently lives in an apartment on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Hotchin said he regretted the Fiji birthday and Hawaii holiday, along with the extravagance of the Paritai mansion.

However, he said other failed finance company directors have lived far more lavish lifestyles since their companies collapsed and not provoked the same outrage.

The decision to go on holiday was partly justified by the fact he had swung a deal with Allied Farmers to repay a large proportion of Hanover investors' funds.

"The timing was clearly appalling. That was a mistake.

"But in terms of the company there's little else we could have done."

Hotchin denied ever being "tricky with money" when it came to managing Hanover or his personal finances.

He said Hanover had a conservative board with good management practices, and neither he nor its directors had ever swindled investors.

"I didn't do anything wrong.

Late last year, the Securities Commission froze Hotchin's assets in case any of the 16,500 out-of-pocket Hanover investors wanted to bring civil claims against the company and its directors.

The commission allowed him $1000 a week to live on. He initially said it wasn't enough for him and his family.

He is now in a court battle to get the freeze order lifted. This week, a High Court judge reserved her decision.

Last night on TVNZ's Close Up programme, Hotchin said he had not been living a life of luxury.

"There's been a lot of media attention, there's been a lot of misinformation - this lavish lifestyle, 90 per cent of it has been exaggerated."

Hotchin apologised to investors and acknowledged they were "doing it hard".

"Certainly this wasn't what we intended. The plan had been to move from a platform that wasn't working to a better one at Allied. "A lot of people believed Allied and they believed me when I said I thought the Allied deal was good."

Asked what he wanted to say to the investors, he said: "I guess the biggest thing is I'm sorry."

Hotchin said he was a decent citizen and was not afraid to walk the street.