A liquidator is surprised police decided against prosecuting the president of a Dunedin bowling club who took proceeds from its sale.
Liquidator Trevor Laing has spent the last three years tracking down $350,000 in proceeds from the sale of the Otago Bowling Club, in Arthur St, which was split among members rather than given to community interests as per the club's constitution.
Police told the Otago Daily Times that "questionable activity had definitely occurred'', but they had decided against pressing charges following Mr Laing's complaint last year.
They also raised questions about the actions of the club's accountant Lucien Van der Bijl, who is believed to have moved to Australia.
Mr Laing was surprised at the decision not to prosecute, saying he believed former club president Lester Nash's actions - especially when it came to accepting a "secret commission'' on the sale of the property - reached the standards required for a prosecution to be launched.
He also had deep concerns about an $85,000 payment made to Southern Pearl Ltd, owned by Mr Nash, for rights to spring water on the club's grounds and had made a complaint to the official assignee over how this money was spent.
"He told me he used it to pay back debts for the company.
"That's rubbish. It got frittered away through pubs and pokie machines.
"That's just reckless spending, which is an offence under the Insolvency Act.''
Mr Nash declined to comment on Mr Laing's accusations in any detail, saying: "What happens with Southern Pearl's money is Southern Pearl's business.''
When pushed on the fact he was Southern Pearl's owner, he declined to elaborate, only saying it had debts to pay off.
"I don't think it's any of your business.''
He was not worried about being charged, saying "it's all above board''.
Detective Sergeant Stan Leishman said "questionable activity had definitely occurred'', but police decided against prosecuting in February.
A confidential agreement Mr Laing had made with Mr Van der Bijl was one impediment to the investigation, Det Sgt Leishman said. Mr Van der Bijl advised Mr Nash and other club members over the sale.
The agreement included a payout of $80,000,
"I can't see why [Mr Van der Bijl] would have done that, apart from he must have realised he had either given very bad advice or worse,'' Det Sgt Leishman said.
There were also questions over whether it was in the public interest to prosecute as it would be expensive to build a case and difficult to get any money out of Mr Nash, who was bankrupt.
Despite these issues, it was clear the actions of the club were questionable.
"There was a whole lot of dubious behaviour by a lot of people concerned and not just Mr Nash.''
Police did not inform Mr Laing about the decision not to prosecute, who found out about it when the ODT contacted him last week, which Det Sgt Leishman accepted was an error.
Mr Laing declined to comment on the confidential agreement, saying only it should not have prevented a prosecution.
He had managed to recover more than $210,000 from club members, but was not confident of retrieving much more of the remaining amount - according to Companies Office records only $1000 was paid back in the year to February.
He was waiting on the decision from the official assignee on whether a prosecution would be launched, before writing his final report.
A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) spokesman yesterday said Mr Laing's complaint remained under consideration by the official assignee.
"MBIE is unable to comment further at this stage as to do so could prejudice the official assignee's inquiries into these matters and any potential prosecution.''
Efforts to contact Mr Van der Bijl were unsuccessful.
The solicitor-general's prosecution guidelines are binding on police.
Essentially, these require consideration of whether there is sufficient evidence and public interest as the test for bringing a prosecution.
