Sir Bob Jones' firm tries to get access to audiotape

Sir Bob Jones. Photo / Richard Robinson

Multi-millionaire Sir Bob Jones' company, from which liquidators are trying to claw back $750,000, has tried to get access to a tape recording which a judge is not even sure the High Court is holding.

If the tape and its transcript are with the court files, then they should not be, Justice Paul Heath said yesterday.

Robt Jones Holdings is in a stoush over whether about $750,000 it received from Northern Crest Investments should be set aside by that firm's liquidators.

Northern Crest is a failed wing of the Blue Chip empire, which collapsed in 2008 owing millions of dollars to investors.

It leased a floor in a central Auckland office tower from Robt Jones Holdings but left the premises in August 2008, halfway through a six-year lease.

Robt Jones Holdings, which calls itself New Zealand's largest private CBD office building owner, got a High Court judgment in September 2009 against Northern Crest for about $300,000, which was paid after liquidation proceedings were brought.

The now-failed firm then settled other debts with the property mogul's company before moving operations across the Tasman in November 2010.

Northern Crest liquidators hope the dispute over the $750,000 will get to court in the middle of this year.

The tape was a recorded discussion between former Lombard chief executive Michael Reeves and Northern Crest liquidator Steve Lawrence. Reeves has said he advised Northern Crest's directors on corporate governance. The recording emerged during a case where Australian firm Manifest Capital Management had a A$3 million claim admitted into Northern Crest liquidation.

The judge said the tape and transcript were not formally put as evidence before him in the Manifest case. "Whether they ended up on the court file is something I do not know but they should not be there if they did."