KEY POINTS:
Defrauded franchisees of the Green Acres scam want the Government to help them fund a legal assault on the company after it declined their demand for compensation.
About 100 franchisees are seeking financial assistance to help them bring Green Acres to court - which is estimated to cost about $140,000 - after Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel said at a meeting on Sunday that it had "declined all the demands for compensation" and claimed Keith Lapham was an independent business owner, and not one of its employees.
About 200 victims, mainly Chinese and Indian immigrants, paid between $21,000 and $25,000 for non-existent ironing businesses to Mr Lapham, a Green Acres master franchisee and area manager.
But Ms Dalziel said she understood that under the law of agencies, an area manager does represent a company and that there could be a case for Green Acres to answer, although she warned franchisees taking the matter to court would be a "very expensive exercise".
Lawyers for the defrauded franchisees issued a letter of demand to Green Acres asking for the return of the money paid to Mr Lapham, and for loans for the purchases of the bogus businesses made through the company's financing arm, FBL Finance, to be nullified.
Ms Dalziel said the Serious Fraud Office, which is investigating the case, would be completing its investigations soon, and a decision on whether to press charges was about two weeks away.
Mr G. Naidu, who was representing his partner who bought a bogus franchise, said "life has been hell" since losing their life savings on the business.
"We didn't come to New Zealand with much money, so losing $30,000 is really losing everything we own," he said. Another victim, Tyrone Pilacan, an immigrant from the Philippines, said he had recently lost his job and was struggling to meet the $800 monthly repayment to the bank.
"Hopefully, with an election coming, the politicians will be more interested in helping us," he said.
