Details of how a former investment banker stole nearly $18 million in the country's largest employee theft will stay secret until the man is sentenced next month.
Stephen Gerard Versalko, 51, appeared in Auckland District Court today when it was expected details of nine years of stealing from 30 wealthy ASB Bank customers would be revealed.
The court was told between $3m and $5m would be recovered but Judge Mark Perkins said it was not appropriate for a summary of facts, including details of how Versalko stole the money, to be read to the court today by Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prosecutor Patrick McCann.
He ordered that nothing be published until next month, when Versalko was sentenced.
Versalko has been in custody for a fortnight since a hearing where he admitted the thefts but at that hearing the SFO summary of facts was suppressed when Versalko's lawyer Stuart Grieve, QC, said some of the facts in it were disputed.
Today both Mr McCann and Mr Grieve told the court the facts were no longer disputed.
"There is no need for that hearing so the matter then can be remanded for a sentencing date," Mr Grieve told the court.
Both lawyers also said outside the court the summary of facts had not changed since the court was told the facts were in dispute.
In court Judge Perkins said there was no need to read the summary of facts today and that summary would be available when Versalko was sentenced.
"There is no issue of trying to suppress openness in court," said the judge.
It was deferring reporting of the facts until the appropriate time of sentence, he said.
When he asked Mr Grieve if home detention was a realistic prospect, Mr Grieve said it was not and told the judge through the sale of assets, between $3m and $5m would be recovered, meaning he could not argue for home detention.
Versalko's guilty plea on three charges involving $17,763,108 made him the largest employee thief in New Zealand history, surpassing the $16.9m fraud by a manager at the Otago District Health Board.
Today details of his victims at the bank were also suppressed.
Judge Perkins also suppressed details of Versalko's wife, her occupation and where she worked.
Versalko was fired by the bank as an investment banker last August and arrested a few days before Christmas.
The three charges Versalko admitted were:
* obtaining $12,958,608 from 17 ASB Bank clients by conducting 68 fraudulent transactions between October 2003 and August 2009.
* offering fictitious investment opportunities to obtain $1,074,077 in 12 fraudulent transactions between August 2000 and September 2003.
* obtaining $3,730,423 from 28 ASB clients by conducting 43 fraudulent transactions between October 2003 and April 2009.
