Former Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority employees charged by SFO named for first time

Former Cera employees Gerard Anthony Gallagher and Simon Carl Nikoloff deny any wrongdoing over alleged private property deals.

Two former Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority employees charged over an alleged fraud involving a government-funded waste-to-energy plant on the West Coast can be named for the first time.

Gerard Anthony Gallagher, 62, and Simon Carl Nikoloff, 57, were both working for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) in 2017 when they were the subject of an investigation by the State Services Commission (SSC) into alleged private property deals.

The SCC referred the pair to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as result and they were later charged.

Both have pleaded not guilty to charges brought under the Crimes Act of corrupt use of official information and will stand trial on August 16 next year.

Today at the High Court in Christchurch, they appeared for a pre-trial callover hearing.

Crown prosecutor Anne Toohey told the court that name suppression lapsed this morning – and no appeals had been filed.

Other pre-trial administrative matters were covered.

Justice Rob Osborne confirmed name suppression had now lapsed.

He remanded both Gallagher and Nikoloff on bail for another pre-trial callover hearing on October 23.