Arrest warrant issued for American investor

A warrant was issued yesterday for the arrest of an American investor who is alleged to have misled the Overseas Investment Commission when he bought a $1.35 million stake in a South Island sheep station.

Earl Richard Schomburg - known as Dick Schomburg - bought a share of the Benmore Station near Porters Pass in Canterbury in February 2003 to develop a hunting park.

The commission launched criminal proceedings against the 66-year-old construction company owner from Illinois last July for failing to disclose a hunting conviction in the United States in his application to buy into the station.

Nine months after Schomburg filed his application, it was revealed that he was fined $US15,000 ($22,000) and banned from hunting in the US for a year in 2000 after admitting illegally buying and selling an antelope.

He is facing three charges of breaching the Overseas Investment Act, which carry a maximum fine of $30,000 or a year in jail. The commission also has the power to force him to sell his share of the sheep station if he is found guilty.

The arrest warrant was issued in the Wellington District Court, but the commission is unlikely to seek his extradition.

- NZPA