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Police told an Auckland woman this week that the husband she lost in a suicide in 2002 is alive and under arrest in Christchurch.
Police allege the man had faked his suicide and disappeared to live under an assumed name. The defence suggested he had wanted to make a fresh start.
Last year his wife had him declared legally dead by the High Court and collected $1.2 million on his life insurance policies.
Christchurch District Court was told today how the scheme unravelled. He was caught when he applied for a passport under his proper name with a view to travelling to Australia.
The man was brought to court on Monday but because his wife and children had not yet been told the news, a blanket suppression order was imposed. That order was continued at a further appearance on Monday.
The family has now been told that he is alive and prosecutor Todd Nicholls today said the police now believed the wife was not involved in any scam and had believed she was legitimately collecting the insurance.
Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger told Judge Raymond Kean that her client realised the emotional issues his former wife and children would be dealing with.
She said he had had no contact with them since his disappearance, and had not benefitted from the insurance pay-out.
Judge Kean lifted the blanket suppression order but made a series of five other orders which prevent publication of much of the detail of the case.
The man's name cannot be published, and nor can the name of his wife or family members, nor any details that lead to their identification.
His assumed name in Christchurch cannot be published, nor the method he used to get the assumed name.
Miss Bulger applied for bail for the man but Judge Kean refused it. He said it was alleged the man had gone to extraordinary lengths to disappear and this raised a major concern about the flight risk.
He rejected the idea that stringent bail conditions could be imposed to ensure he remained in Christchurch. Twice-daily reporting to a suburban Christchurch police station had been suggested, with conditions about where he lives, a curfew, and no holding of travel documents.
Voicing the police opposition, Mr Nicholls said: "Even without a passport, there is a potential for him to leave this area or these shores one way or another."
Miss Bulger said: "There is no question that he's made things difficult for himself. All of his identification is under the assumed name. He is going to be without money. There are things he won't be able to do because he has been declared dead. For the moment he doesn't exist. He is going to have to deal with that issue."
The man faces two charges of fraud and one of dishonestly using a document.
Each fraud charge relates to the insurance claims - and one company has paid out $1 million.
At present, the two fraud charges name his wife as a co-accused.
But Miss Bulger said that after interviewing his wife, the police were "no longer suggesting that he had benefitted from that, by any conspiracy with her".
Inquiries were continuing, but she suggested that the fraud charges may have to change. It may be the only charge he faced was the document charge, which related to assuming a false identity.
The couple were living apart at the time he disappeared in 2002.
"He has allegedly staged his suicide and all of the things that are attendant upon that have occurred," said Miss Bulger.
"As far as his wife is concerned, there has been no contact between them for that period of time, and there has still been no contact.
"She has now been told, obviously, that he is still alive, and their children have been told."
The man, tall and clean-shaven, stood quietly in the dock during the 45-minute hearing. He spoke twice, to fill in a missing detail and to agree to his remand date.
Judge Kean remanded him in custody to appear again on February 14. No pleas have been entered.
- NZPA
