Rescue trust fraud trial gets under way

A jury will today hear the opening address against four men accused of conspiring to defraud two Auckland air rescue trusts.

The case, which is set down for 10 weeks in the High Court at Auckland, started yesterday morning.

Wayne Porter, Peter Pharo, Malcolm Beattie and Stewart Romley all entered pleas of not guilty.

Then the process of selecting 12 impartial jurors - who need a free 2 1/2 months to hear the case - began.

Larger than normal numbers of potential jurors were assembled for the task, which was eventually completed before midday.

After being sworn in, the jury members were then dismissed for the day with instructions to return at 10am today for the opening address.

Lawyers for the Crown and defence spent the afternoon in chambers discussing technical aspects of the case before the start.

The trial has taken several years to come to court following a Serious Fraud Office investigation in 2002.

The accused, who are all in their 60s, are charged with conspiring to defraud the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust and the ChildFlight Trust.

The Serious Fraud Office alleges grants from pub gaming machines were dishonestly returned to the pubs in the guise of "advertising costs".

Porter and Pharo owned or held an interest in the Birdcage, the Palace Tavern, the Strand Tavern, Cazino Bar and Goldie's Casino, where the gaming machines operated.

The machines were owned by the GoldTimes Trust, in which the four accused had varying roles.

GoldTimes' function was to distribute net profits to the community for authorised purposes.

Such grants were given to the ChildFlight and helicopter trusts, in which Porter, Beattie and Romley were involved.

It is alleged the amount paid to those trusts was heavily reduced by making advertising payments back to the pubs which went far beyond any proper advertising expenditure.