Fraud suspect's suppression bid to go to Court of Appeal

File photo / NZH

A prominent Rotorua man facing fraud charges brought against him by the Serious Fraud Office is planning to take his fight to keep his name suppressed to the Court of Appeal.

Yesterday, Justice Timothy Brewer lifted name suppression following an appeal in the High Court at Rotorua earlier this month.

The appeal was heard in the High Court on March 3 after Judge Phillip Cooper lifted name suppression in the Rotorua District Court in February.

The man's lawyer, Jeremy Bioletti, is now applying to the High Court for leave to appeal Justice Brewer's decision to lift name suppression to the Court of Appeal.

Justice Brewer has granted interim name suppression which will end in five working days if Mr Bioletti has not filed an application to the High Court to appeal his decision.

The man faces four charges of fraud and one of theft brought against him by the Serious Fraud Office. He has not entered pleas to the charges.

He is charged that between July 2007 and February 2008 at Rotorua and elsewhere in New Zealand, by deception, he obtained control over $338,834.48, being funds entrusted by a group of people. It is alleged the man falsely represented to the group that its money would be invested in a bank.

He is alleged to have failed to disclose to the group the funds would be used to clear an inheritance and the group's money would be used to "purchase cleaning fluid to clean cash" and he would personally profit from the use of the group's money to the sum of about US$5 million ($6.8 million).

The man also faces three counts of falsely representing a bank by saying loans advanced by the bank would be applied for an overseas property transaction.