Director accused of bribery loses name suppression bid

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A businessman accused of bribing a former senior Accident Compensation Corporation employee in return for information about a building in Whangarei has lost a bid to keep his name suppressed.

Gregory Alexander Hutt, 52, of Roseneath in Wellington, is facing three charges in relation to allegedly giving $160,000 to former ACC property manager Malcolm David Mason, 50, in return for information about a building ACC was looking to lease in Whangarei.

Last month, Mason admitted corruptly disclosing information about security officer listings, corruptly accepting a gift in the form of a Singapore holiday, and accepting a bribe. He will be sentenced next month.

Hutt is facing two charges of corruptly giving and corruptly offering a bribe and one charge of corruptly giving a gift as a reward.

He ceased to be a director of Hi-Tech Commercial Interiors (Auckland) and was struck off as a director of Hi-Tech Security, Hi-Tech Holdings and Kilbixy Holdings. He remains a director of Kilbixy Apartment.

He appealed against a District Court judge's refusal to give him name suppression but in the High Court at Wellington, Justice Ron Young dismissed his appeal, saying those accused of white-collar crime were not exempt from the normal approach to name suppression.

Hutt's lawyer, Donald Stevens QC, had asked Justice Young to suppress his client's name until his trial, when he would put forward his defence and people could see there was nothing to the allegations.

The charges against Hutt and Mason were laid after a 2-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into property development and leasing arrangements.

Mason, who worked for the ACC for 32 years, was fired in March last year.

- APN