Mrs Hotchin 'I'm not selfish, I care'

Amanda and Mark Hotchin last May. Mrs Hotchin says that she is concerned for the welfare of her family. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

The wife of Hanover Finance boss Mark Hotchin has hit back at the media for portraying her as selfish, saying, "I do care that investors have lost money".

Amanda Hotchin's statement comes after a series of reports detailed the Hotchins' luxury lifestyle in a Gold Coast mansion - including seeking access to a Porsche and a $7000-a-week allowance. The high life continues despite Hanover's collapse, which left 16,500 investors, many of them elderly, out of pocket.

Mr Hotchin, with Hanover co-founder Eric Watson, took $91 million in dividends before the collapse, and he owns an incomplete $30 million mansion on Auckland's poshest street, Paritai Drive, a $13.5 million farm and holiday home on Waiheke Island, sections at Jacks Pt near Queenstown, a 69ha Coromandel farm and a prize racehorse.

In an email to media commentator Brian Edwards, published on his blog, Mrs Hotchin says she is not as she has been portrayed - "absolutely selfish, lacking in conscience and indifferent to the welfare of others".

"I care very much about what has happened, I do care that investors have lost money, I am concerned for their welfare."

Mrs Hotchin criticised a story in the Herald about her Gold Coast getaway and an article in the Sunday Star-Times about a holiday in Hawaii.

She said the Sunday Star-Times story had fabricated its key quote, and she had statements from witnesses to vouch that she had not spoken the words printed in the newspaper.

Mrs Hotchin said "lies, falsehoods and fabrications" had been printed, but she could not afford to take legal action.

"Propaganda is a word that comes to mind when I think of the media [coverage] we have received," she said.

"I know you will say I should have sued the [Sunday Star-Times] if its story was untrue. I began legal proceedings but now find the cost is prohibitive."

She said she was concerned for the welfare of her family, "which is being subjected to a tabloid media campaign motivated by hate and the greed of papers and broadcasters that simply want to make money from everyone else's misery".

Hanover Finance collapsed in July 2008, freezing $550 million owed to 16,500 investors.

Many are angry the Hotchins enjoy riches while they struggle.

Following a High Court order last year to freeze Mr Hotchin's assets, his family have lived in part of a three-storey mansion in an exclusive area of the Gold Coast.

Mrs Hotchin noted in her email to Dr Edwards that her family had access to only 1 storeys, "which does not include the rooftop pool".

The court order gives the family $1000 a week, and they also have access to at least another $322,000 not covered by the order. But Mr Hotchin's lawyers initially said this wasn't enough for the family to live on, with weekly bills reaching $6700.

Mr Hotchin lost a bid in court to have a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz and a 2004, $90,000 Porsche Cayenne shipped to him.