Who was the real Michael Swann?

Convicted fraud and now prison inmate Michael Swann (47) has received mixed reviews from people around Dunedin who have had dealings with him.

Some told the Otago Daily Times this week he was a good "yapper" who enjoyed trying to "pull a swifty".

Others consider him a loyal friend.

None approached by the ODT were willing to be identified - and much of what they had to say could not be verified.

But Swann's progress from Mornington Primary School, through John McGlashan College and the University of Otago and into the Dunedin business community could best be said to have been marked by clouds of smoke if not, until now, a great deal of fire.

Said one person: "I would describe him as one who is always trying to pull a swifty over the system."

Another made similar comments.

However, Justice Lyn Stevens, when sentencing Swann, referred several times to his "reasonably clear" record and noted only one previous dishonesty offence, for inaccurate recording of a hubometer.

Swann was born Michael Wilson.

He grew up in Dunedin with his mother, Marie, and his adopted father, Jim Swann.

Jim Swann was sales manager at Tablet Print, the 135-year-old firm that closed in 2007.

A friend said that on a trip to Sydney, he and Swann went to his birth father's house.

"I took him right to his door, but he never went in . . . You have to psych yourself up to meet the father you always knew you had but never met."

Swann and his father did meet eventually and "get on well, apparently", the friend said.

A focal point of Swann's trial was his "fleet" of luxury cars, boats and properties.

An acquaintance said that, having been bankrupted through his involvement in a new business making and marketing fertiliser, Swann was "broke in 1999".

"And then he started accumulating things, including Ferntree Lodge, with money he took from the hospital."

Crown counsel Robin Bates submitted the total amount obtained was $16,902,000 and was used to support "an extravagant and luxurious lifestyle".