Witness naming studied by judge

A Rotorua District Court judge is deciding whether to lift interim name suppression granted to some witnesses at the November fraud trial of Bill and Lee Papple and Tina West.

Two high-flying Auckland businessmen, an Auckland church leader and a Rotorua man were granted interim name suppression.

Combined, the four lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in what a jury found to be fraudulent scams run by Lee Papple, of Rotorua, and her business partner, Tina West, from Auckland.

The jury was undecided about Mr Papple's involvement and he will be retried.

Rotorua's Daily Post newspaper has made submissions to the court, arguing that interim suppression should not continue for the witnesses. It cited the Appeal Court's recent emphasis on open justice.

Appearing for the businessmen, Bruce Stewart, QC, told Judge James Weir his clients were worried about how public knowledge surrounding their involvement with "Looney Tune investments" would affect their businesses.

He said that if business confidence in the men dropped, it could result in their businesses failing and staff being made redundant.

Judge Weir told Mr Stewart that his arguments were "all very hypothetical".

"You will have to come up with a bit more than mere assertions that there will be a lack of public confidence in their abilities."

Judge Weir said the businessmen used their own money, not company money, to invest in the fraudulent schemes and any publication of their names would make that clear.

He reserved his decision.

A new date has been set for the sentencing of Lee Papple and Tina West. It was to have taken place on Friday but pre-sentencing probation service reports were not available.

The pair will now be sentenced on March 4.

- NZPA