Police were initially seeing forfeiture orders totalling nearly $11m and a civil trial began last week. But the trial adjourned on the second day after Ron Salter’s lawyers and police indicated a settlement was possible, which was approved by Justice Matthew Downs on Monday morning.
Salter and his family built Salters Cartage, a business that specialises in the disposal and recycling of hazardous wastes, including waste oil, from a single vehicle to a fleet of trucks running nationwide.
But the successful business hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in September 2015, when a large tank at the yard in Manukau exploded, killing a young man working onsite.
Jamey Lee Bowring, a 24-year-old contractor, was welding a catwalk near the top of the silo, and the force of the explosion threw him more than 100 metres.
The tank was labelled as holding diesel – a low-hazard substance – but actually contained a hazardous mixture of fuel waste.
The vapours are highly flammable but Bowring was never warned about the potential danger and should not have been allowed to do any “hot work” near the tank.
A subsequent WorkSafe investigation prosecuted Salter for breaches of health and safety rules, but also for blatantly failing to comply with laws controlling the safe storage and handling of hazardous substances.
As well as being mislabelled as a low-risk hazard, the tank should also have had a “stationary container system test certificate”. Salter had been warned about needing the certificate on two previous occasions, in 2011 and 2015, but did not apply for approval.
The certificate would not have been given because the tank did not comply with legal requirements for venting, anchorage and earth connections. At the time of the fatal incident, none of the tanks at Salters Cartage had certificates.
When WorkSafe investigated, the issues that emerged led to a “prohibition notice” banning the company from using its recycled oil plant from September 2015 to March 2016. Despite that, WorkSafe alleged Salters Cartage Ltd started running the plant early in February 2016.
Inspections identified “potential ignition sources” in at-risk areas.
Salter pleaded guilty to the WorkSafe charges and was sentenced to four-and-a-half months of home detention in October 2017. The company and Salter also paid fines and reparation of nearly $400,000.
But that was not the end of Salter’s legal woes.
Jamey Lee Bowring, 24, died after an explosion at Salters Cartage Ltd in Manukau in 2015.
Two years later, in a surprise move, police were granted orders by the High Court to restrain Salter’s family home in Auckland, their holiday home on Waiheke Island, another property in Paerata and the Salters Cartage business premises in Wiri.
The assets were frozen under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act (CPRA). The law allows a judge to grant restraining orders if there are reasonable grounds to believe the owner has benefitted from “significant criminal activity”.
The law is most often used to confiscate the ill-gotten wealth of drug dealers, gang members and money launderers.
In a move described by different judges as “novel” and unusual”, this was the first time police had used the criminal proceeds law against a commercial business.
While Salters Cartage was a legitimate business, the police case was that Ron Salter knew the laws around the handling of hazardous substances and ignored them.
This meant the business was running unlawfully, the police alleged, and Salter had benefitted by nearly $11m.
For five years, Salter had vigorously opposed the police case and a trial scheduled for seven weeks started in the High Court at Auckland last week.
However, after lawyers for the police gave their opening statement on Monday, the hearing was adjourned for negotiations to take place behind closed doors. Salter’s legal team comprised Ron Mansfield KC, Simon Cogan and Jack Cundy, while the commissioner was represented by Mark Harborow, Stephanie Earl and Alex Mackenzie.
Under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act, settlements need to be approved by a judge.
The parties reappeared in the High Court at Auckland this morning where Justice Downs canvassed the history of the case, before approving the settlement deal in which Ron Salter, and Salters Cartage Ltd, would pay $4m.
Justice Downs said the company, Ron Salter and his wife had denied all wrongdoing beyond that already captured by their convictions under health and safety and hazardous substances legislation.
They had argued the police were prosecuting a test case and seeking to extend the criminal proceeds law beyond the situations envisaged by Parliament, and denied deriving benefits from criminal activity.
Justice Downs said the Police Commissioner acknowledged he would face difficulties proving Salter’s wife’s “knowledge of significant criminal activity”, and observed she had a relationship property interest in the properties.
But, per the settlement, Ron Salter and the company accept they had benefitted from the offending under hazardous substance legislation to which they have already pleaded guilty. They also acknowledged they had breached a health and safety notice in 2015, Justice Downs said.
The High Court judge approved the $4m settlement, released the Police Commissioner from any undertaking regarding damages and ruled each party would bear their own legal costs.
“It is broadly equivalent to the property that the commissioner considers would have been available to meet a profit forfeiture order had the commissioner’s case been successful against Mr Salter alone,” Justice Downs said.
Detective Inspector Lloyd Schmid, the head of the Financial Crime Groups, said SCL and Ron Salter knowingly benefited from a failure to comply with fundamental requirements for handling dangerous substances.
“SCL failed to ensure the safety of its site and Salter financially benefited from those very failings. We’ve chosen to take a pragmatic approach here and settle the case at no further cost to police.
“This result has been a long time coming and we hope it provides some peace to Jamey’s loved ones.”
Ron Salter pictured during a previous interview with the New Zealand Herald. Photo / Nick Reed
Schmid said he was aware of the concern within the business community about the use of the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act in these circumstances.
But he said the police do not intend to use the proceeds law “routinely” for offences against the Health and Safety at Work Act.
“This case, largely brought on the basis of breaches of regulations relating to hazardous substances, had some unique features and aggravating circumstances, including the tragic death of a young man.
“Police will however consider any future cases on a case-by-case basis.
Jamey Bowring’s mother, Sarah Ferguson, said this case was “so much more than someone getting some paperwork wrong”.
“I can’t thank those who have walked this journey with us enough – the police and the fantastic legal team that worked quietly and tirelessly to hold this egregious offending and behaviour to account.
“Jamey deserved to come home from work ... Your loved ones deserve to come home from work. Greed cannot come before safety.”
Ron Salter declined to be interviewed after the court hearing. But in a written statement released to the Herald, he said he was pleased to settle the forfeiture case “after almost five years of fighting and significant cost to SCL [Salters Cartage Ltd] and my family”.
“While SCL would have liked to have taken the commissioner’s test case all the way, to see whether cases like this are really what the CPRA is intended for, this proceeding has already taken long enough and cost us significantly.
“So we have made the hard commercial decision to cut our losses and be in a position to move on.”
Salter said he recognised the tragic loss of Jamey Bowring’s life and his company’s role in failing to prevent the fatal accident.
“That will not be forgotten and will continue to drive us every day to remain focused to avoid any reoccurrence. But as a company trading in a competitive industry, SCL also needs to be able to move on and take up new opportunities so resolving this proceeding will allow it to do that.”
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
George Block is an Auckland-based reporter with a focus on police, the courts, prisons and defence. He joined the Herald in 2022 and has previously worked at Stuff in Auckland and the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin.
