At a penalty hearing conducted by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Real Estate Agents' Licensing Board earlier this year, Mr McNeill's practising certificate was suspended for 18 months and he was ordered to pay costs of $20,868.
Both penalties were in relation to a property Mr McNeill bought in 2003 and then on-sold.
Mr McNeill appealed both the suspension and the costs awarded against him to the High Court.
Yesterday, in a written decision, Justice Paul Heath dismissed Mr McNeill's appeal.
While mindful of Mr McNeill's previous good character and reputation, the board was justified in taking the view that a salesman who acted in a dishonest manner in the way Mr McNeill had was not someone who should hold, at least for a specified time, a salesman's certificate, Justice Heath said.
An inference of "dishonest conduct" was irresistible on the facts found by the board.
Mr McNeill's conduct included deliberate falsehood conveyed to the person from whom he bought the property and the person to whom he on-sold it, deliberate concealment of the true purchase price, providing misleading information to the Department of Inland Revenue and a deliberate course of action to obtain a secret profit for himself.
"Plainly, that type of conduct justified suspension.
Indeed, Mr McNeill might consider himself fortunate that his status as an `approved salesman' was not cancelled," Justice Heath said.
The judgement passed by the board, which included three real estate agents, was to some extent passed by his peers and one which Justice Heath said he would "be reluctant to interfere".
He also upheld the board's order for Mr McNeill to pay the $20,868 in costs.
The principle on which the board relied in awarding costs against Mr McNeill was correct.
It took account of the functions of an industry-supervised disciplinary regime and the desirability of recompensing competitors who were required to fund an inquiry.
The board made no error in law in its costs decision.
Justice Heath also awarded costs of the High Court action in favour of the institute, together with "reasonable disbursements".
Mr McNeill was working for Oamaru real Estate Ltd as an "approved salesman" - he no longer works for the company - when it was granted sole agency of a property owned by Stuart Dean at 364 Thames St.
Initial attempts to sell the property were unsuccessful.
While the property was on the market, a Timaru businessman made an inquiry with Mr McNeill, but no transaction was concluded.
The sole agency was terminated shortly after.
Mr McNeill then bought the property himself for $82,500 plus GST (if any) in an agreement dated June 12, 2003.
Mr McNeill then sold the property to the Timaru businessman for $85,000 in an agreement dated July 8, 2003.
The businessman agreed to pay Mr McNeill an extra $24,000.
As a result of a misleading GST return, Mr McNeill was prosecuted by Inland Revenue for knowingly providing false or misleading information.
He was fined $600, together with court costs and a solicitor's fee, in the Oamaru District Court on February 27, 2007.
After that, the real estate institute applied to the board to cancel Mr McNeill's certificate under the Real Estate Agents Act.
