All five defendants in the Serious Fraud Office prosecution of South Canterbury Finance associates have now been identified.
Name suppression for the final two, Timaru lawyer Edward Oral Sullivan and Robert Alexander White, was lifted in the District Court at Timaru today. Both are former SCF directors.
None of the defendants, who face 21 charges in the biggest case of corporate fraud in New Zealand history, appeared in court and the case will be called again for a post-committal conference in late May.
The other three defendants volunteered to have their names revealed in January. They are former company chief executive Lachie John McLeod, Terry Hutton and former company finance officer Graeme Brown.
The charges include theft by a person in a special relationship, obtaining by deception, false statements by the promoter of a company and false accounting. They carry maximum penalties of between seven and 10 years in prison on conviction.
The company collapsed in August last year attracting a $1.775 billion government payout to investors under the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
A sixth defendant, company founder and former SCF chairman, Alan Hubbard who alone faced 50 fraud charges, was killed in a road accident on September 2 last year.
- Tom O'Connor for APNZ
