Jonathan Kirkpatrick
The former dean of Dunedin's St Paul's cathedral appeared
in court this afternoon, accused of fraudulently taking
$666,000 from Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
AUT's former Business Innovation Centre chief executive
Jonathan Kirkpatrick was arrested this morning and charged
with seven counts of fraud, relating to alleged offending
between January 2003 and May this year.
In Auckland District Court this afternoon his lawyer, Russell
Fairbrother, said his client "took full responsibility for
his actions" and intended to enter a plea when he next
appeared on August 7.
Police allege that Kirkpatrick used false invoices in the
name of companies Eventure and Halsey Consulting limited to
obtain funds from the university.
He is also alleged to have made false records while acting as
a servant of AUT and to have tampered with the university's
accounting system.
He did not apply for name suppression in court today and was
granted bail.
Kirkpatrick, who is the former partner of former Labour MP
Tim Barnett, resigned last week after AUT identified
"possible accounting discrepancies".
Kirkpatrick has a first class honours degree in theology from
the University of London and an MBA from the University of
Otago.
He was ordained as a priest in London in 1985 after beginning
his career as a church army officer.
In 1996 he was made the 10th Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in
Dunedin, working below the country's first female bishop,
Penny Jamieson.
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