SFO working to drop Hubbard charges

ALAN WOOD, DANYA LEVY AND CHARLIE GATES

The Serious Fraud Office says technically it has still to withdraw criminal charges against Allan Hubbard, though it still intends to do so.

The 83-year-old former chairman of South Canterbury Finance (SCF) died after a head-on collision near Oamaru on Friday.

His wife Jean Hubbard remains in Dunedin Hospital with multiple fractures.

Last June, the SFO started an investigation after the Government had taken control of his fortune which was at one point estimated at $500 million.

Hubbard, and his wife Jean, were then placed into statutory management. Prime Minister John Key said this morning he expected Cabinet to be advised today on whether Jean Hubbard would be released from statutory management.

About a year after the statutory management, the SFO laid 50 fraud charges against Hubbard, then aged 83, after an investigation into his finances including investment company, Aorangi Securities.

The charges were laid under three sections of the Crimes Act which deal with theft by a person in a special relationship, false accounting and false statements by a promoter.

SFO chief executive Adam Feeley today said the office was very mindful of the Hubbard family being bereaved.

The office intended to withdraw charges, but technically at this stage the charges had not been dropped. It was still working through the best way this should be achieved, he said.

The office would release further information later in the day. ''We will be releasing (information) today just clarifying the position as to what is technically the correct process of withdrawing those charges ... yes obviously (withdrawing the charges) is the appropriate step to take,'' Feeley said.

''We're just clarifying which is the best way to do it.''

Feeley would not comment on the cost to the investigation, or how many hours had been spent by the office investigating the Hubbard's financial affairs.

''On the case itself we are not making any other comment for the timebeing. We may make a comment in the future ...

''Right now we don't think it's appropriate. We think the Hubbard family obviously have a bereavement to deal with and it's not appropriate for us to make any other comment.''

The SFO talked to Hubbard on the first day of statutory management, but subsequent contact had been through Hubbard's lawyers, the office said in the early stages of the investigation.

The emphasis of the investigation had been on reconstructing and looking at transactions and investments surrounding Aorangi Securities, which had gone into statutory management as had the Hubbards, along with a series of trusts.

At that point the SFO intended to interview a number of the total 400 plus investors in Aorangi, to get a reasonable sample of people who had put in money over time in a company that was formed in 1974.

John Key said Commerce Minister Simon Power had met with Crown Law at the weekend to discuss the Hubbards' case.

He said he did not know whether Jean Hubbard could be released from statutory management but Cabinet would be updated on the issues when it met in Christchurch today.

"We need to make our way through those issues and see what happens next," he told TVNZ's Breakfast programme.

There were complex issues involved, Key said.

"Our deepest sympathies go to the Hubbard family, it's obviously a difficult time for them.

"But you'll appreciate there is also an awful lot of taxpayer money involved here and we are trying to protect the interests of the New Zealand taxpayer."

Hubbard's lawyer, Mike Heron, said while the 50 criminal charges had been dropped by the SFO other matters were still before the court.

A spokesperson for statutory managers Grant Thornton said it was "too early to say" how the statutory management of the Hubbards would proceed.

Meanwhile, Allan Hubbard's wishes for a private funeral will be honoured, with a public memorial service to be held later.

A family statement said: "To assist our mother's recovery and to enable us to grieve our father's death, we trust our request for privacy at this time is respected. It was our father's specific request that his funeral be a private one and we wish to honour that request. A remembrance book will be placed at Chalmers Church, Timaru, and details of a memorial service will follow later."

Jean Hubbard, 82, was driving the southbound car when it collided head-on with a four-wheel-drive utility towing a trailer on Friday afternoon. The driver of the utility vehicle, Nelson man Andrew Earl, 40, was discharged from Oamaru Hospital with cuts and abrasions.

- © Fairfax NZ News