Police are investigating a $30,000 offer to help a jailed Cromwell burglar.
The man who last week presented the offer in court to pay more than $25,000 reparation and $5000 in fines during the burglar's sentencing is himself a man with a criminal history, including numerous fraud convictions.
Nicholas Birch told Judge Michael Crosbie in the Alexandra District Court on Tuesday he represented an equestrian firm that wanted to help the defendant, Fletcher Christian Dennis (23), of Cromwell.
Detective Alan Lee, of the Central Otago CIB, said police were investigating the matter.
''We understand the offer was possibly not legitimate and we'll be looking into the whole matter,'' he said.
Mr Birch told the judge the firm was prepared to pay the defendant's $25,668 reparation and $5000 outstanding fines. The company would give Dennis a job when he got out of prison.
Judge Crosbie called the offer ''extraordinary generosity''.
Dennis was sentenced to three years and four months in jail on six counts of burglary, three of intentional damage and one of illegally possessing a pistol.
The Otago Daily Times failed to find any trace of the equestrian firm, which does not appear on the New Zealand Companies register, had no landline telephone numbers listed and internet searches for the firm drew a blank.
Speaking outside court after the case, Mr Birch said the business making the offer was called Equestrian Services and Supplies.
He said it had branches in Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland. The business owner was Russell Whittaker, who was working in Australia for three months on the racing circuit, Mr Birch said.
Mr Whittaker's name does not appear on the companies register as a director or shareholder.
Mr Birch told the court the motivation behind the kind gesture was that the owner's son had been in trouble when he was younger and someone had given him a second chance by offering him employment.
He conceded the firm was ''taking a gamble ... That's racing for you''.
Asked outside court how the firm came into contact with the defendant, Mr Birch said the defendant, who was in prison at the time, answered the firm's advertisement seeking expressions of interest from people wanting to become a farrier.
Approached on Thursday about the reparation offer, counsel for Dennis at the sentencing, Justine Baird, said she had no comment.
When later contacted at his parents' Dunedin home, Mr Birch said Mr Whittaker did not want any more publicity surrounding the offer, which was a private matter between him and Dennis.
Mr Birch said the company was based in Australia and had ''race horses overseas'' and was involved in breeding and farrier services.
Equestrian Supplies and Services was its trading name, he said. He refused to tell the ODT its proprietary limited company name or where its office was based.
His actions at court were on behalf of the company's owner, who was ''a friend'' and he had no involvement with the company, he said.
''I'm not an employee and have never been involved with them,'' he said.
However, photos on the internet show Mr Birch wearing a jacket with a stylised Equestrian Services and Supplies logo dated from 2014.
Asked if the offer was genuine, Mr Birch replied: ''Of course it's genuine.''
''The reparation offer is, from what I understand, so Fletcher doesn't have it hanging over him,'' he said.
Mr Birch said he did not know Dennis personally and had only spoken to him on the phone.
He did not want to present the offer at Dennis' sentencing, he said.
''I was reluctant to at first but then I went along to do it,'' Mr Birch said.
When asked why he was reluctant, he said: ''Because, I just didn't want to.''
Inquiries to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission about the company and whether it was linked to Russell Whittaker showed there was no record of the company there.
''The business name Equestrian Services and Supplies does not appear on any of ASIC's registers,'' a spokeswoman for the commission said.
Mr Birch said Mr Whittaker would return from Australia to New Zealand on April 13.
He provided a New Zealand based cellphone number for Mr Whittaker, but attempts to contact him were unsuccessful and voice mail messages left with the number were not returned.
Those contacted within Australia's racing industry were also in the dark about the company, its involvement in racing and its supposed owner.
Racing New South Wales said it had never heard of Russell Whittaker or the company, but referred the ODT to its chief veterinarian, Dr Craig Suann.
Dr Suann said he had never heard of the company or its owner.
Western Australia Racehorse Owners Association president Harvey Crossman said he had been in the industry a ''long time'' and never heard of the company or its owner.
''If I didn't know them personally, I would know of them,'' he said.
Those contacted at the Australian Racing Board also said the two names were unknown.
In 2010, Mr Birch was jailed for four years and 10 months on 49 fraud and dishonesty related charges. He had used false cheques to ''buy'' expensive cars and expensive furnishings and pretended he was interested in buying a Christchurch bar.
In March last year, Mr Birch was recalled to prison for fraudulent offending while on parole. He had allegedly tried to run nightclubs in Auckland and Dunedin.
In February, Mr Birch was convicted on two charges of causing loss by deception, relating to offending in 2012, and given a 12 month deferred sentence.
An application at his parole hearing last year noted he ''poses an undue risk to community safety and has breached his release conditions''.
He was released from prison on March 12.
