Michael Swann, the man jailed for nine and a-half years for defrauding the Otago District Health Board of $16.9 million, is seeking access to his old ODHB computer records and has managed to delay the hearing of a Crown application to recover "tainted" assets from him.
The Proceeds of Crime Act case was scheduled for later this month but, at a High Court hearing in Dunedin yesterday, Swann's lawyer, Hugo Young, of Invercargill, sought an adjournment of the April 26 fixture.
Mr Young told Justice Graeme Panckhurst "The more I get into it [the case], the messier it looks".
Crown counsel Marie Grills said Swann, who was not present at the hearing, wanted access to the ODHB's back-up tapes for the years 1994-99 so he could see his work computer emails.
He believed they would show the money he had received from the buying and selling he had carried out through his various companies during that period.
The Crown accepted Swann had been "a comprehensive trader of vehicles" throughout his time at the ODHB, Mrs Grills said.
But he had also been a bankrupt in the mid-1990s.
The Crown objected to the board's tapes being available for "a convicted fraud to analyse", Mrs Grills said.
If Swann's companies had been operating and making $2.5 million to $3 million as alleged, "one would expect GST and tax implications, so there would be records", Justice Panckhurst commented.
Mr Young told the court Swann had instructed him there were no records of the money received from the buying and selling.
"He says the only way he can substantiate his claim of the substantial financial resources available to him immediately before the frauds is through the [ODHB] records," Mr Young said.
The judge described as "a bit rich" Swann's claim he had obtained $2.5 million to $3 million but had no record of it.
And he was "rather dubious" the court could order disclosure for the period specified.
Health board counsel Sally McMillan recorded "a categorical no" from the board to its trading records being made available to Swann.
Ms McMillan expressed concern at the cost of analysing the backup tapes and she said one of the companies mentioned in Swann's affidavit did not "ring any bells at all".
The Crown last year obtained a Proceeds of Crimes Act restraining order over all Swann's assets.
But Swann's estranged wife, Anna Devereux, and their children, were allowed to continue living in their Ferntree Dr house, receive rental from tenanted properties and use a 2005 Land Cruiser until a replacement was provided.
Ms Devereux's counsel, Len Andersen, said yesterday the Crown wanted to stop the money being paid to Ms Devereux.
But she was dependent on the money to live and if the fixture did not proceed there would clearly be an adverse effect on her and the children, Mr Andersen said.
Justice Panckhurst said he "seriously doubted" whether the Relationship Property Act aspects of the case could be argued on a separate basis from the Proceeds of Crime application.
He adjourned the hearing and is expected to issue directions by the end of the week.
