Bill Trotter, unmasked as the mystery alleged kidnap conspiracy victim Mr X, says he cannot think why he would be a target.
Cross-examined in the High Court at Wellington yesterday, Mr Trotter, 45, agreed with one of the accused men that he would not make the list of New Zealand's 100 richest people.
Mr Trotter is chief executive of investment bank and sharebroker First New Zealand Capital.
He said he knew nothing about the alleged kidnap plot until police offered him protection on July 22 last year.
Mr Trotter's battle to keep his identity secret ended at 2.15pm yesterday. Details of the proceedings cannot be published.
Within minutes, he was brought in a side door of the main courtroom in the High Court building to give his evidence.
A plywood box found buried in a reserve north of Upper Hutt on July 10 last year was covered in court while he gave evidence.
The Crown says Upper Hutt lawyer John Arthur Burrett and his nephew, Matthew Norman Payne, were intending to hold Mr Trotter in the box.
Burrett, 53, and Payne, 22, have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to kidnap with intent to hold for ransom, or with intent to confine, and having a sawn-off shotgun.
They were arrested on July 22 last year in Wellington's Botanic Gardens, from where it was alleged they were going to begin the bid to kidnap Mr Trotter from his central Wellington home.
Mr Trotter said he left home that day at 8.58am and drove to work.
"Did you remain at work throughout the day and into the evening?" prosecutor Grant Burston asked.
"I remained at work until about 6pm ... I was contacted by a police officer and asked to meet him on The Terrace."
"Were you then taken into police protection and escorted to the Wellington central police station?"
"Yes, I was."
"And were you there joined by your wife ... who had been at your home that evening up until the time they were taken into police protection?"
"Yes, I was."
"Had you noticed any suspicious activity around your home ... in the days and weeks before July 22?"
"No, I had not."
"Mr Trotter, have you had occasion since that evening to think carefully about why you would be targeted as a kidnap victim?"
"I have thought carefully about that and cannot think of a reason why I would be targeted."
Mr Trotter said he did not know Burrett, Payne, or Burrett's stepson Simon Phillpott, who was also allegedly part of the plot.
He said that in June and July last year, anyone watching his house would have found it difficult to see a set routine in his movements.
Burrett is defending himself and Mr Burston often raised objections to his questions to Mr Trotter.
Asked if he was well known in financial circles, Mr Trotter said he was in a narrow part of the financial services industry.
The Crown's evidence in the trial, which has been running for five weeks, may end tomorrow.
Bill Trotter: Well connected, but low profile
William Ronald Trotter is one of the best connected but lowest profile business leaders in Wellington.
Son of former Fletcher Challenge chairman Sir Ronald, Mr Trotter is chief executive of investment bank and share broker First New Zealand Capital and a member of the Business Roundtable.
He is 45, and married.
Though generally a behind-the-scenes operator, Mr Trotter was widely touted as a possible Brierley Investments chief executive in 1999 after Paul Collins was ousted.
Mr Collins was understood to have chosen Mr Trotter as his successor, but Mr Trotter did not take the job.
He is on the stock exchange board and is a director of Sky City.
Mr Trotter was a joint chief executive of Credit Suisse First Boston in the 1990s.
First NZ Capital still has links to global investment banking giant Credit Suisse First Boston.
First NZ used to operate under the CSFB name when the international firm had a stake in the New Zealand company for many years, but CSFB sold out last year.
Mr Trotter said in court that CSFB sold the New Zealand business to the employees.
Originally set up in the early 1960s by former All Black Ron Jarden and known as RA Jarden and Co, First NZ Capital has about 110 staff in Wellington and Auckland.
It handles merger and acquisition deals and share trading for clients involving billions of dollars a year.
Investment banking firms take a small slice for advising on huge business deals, but even that can be worth millions of dollars to investment banks, though Mr Trotter is not on any rich list.
Mr Trotter has also had an interest in horse racing. He was a partner in Morangie, the 1996 Matamata Cup winner.
- NZPA
Unveiled Mr X baffled by kidnap plot
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