Moontide hits back over drug claims

The boss of Moontide Swimwear has spoken out against Colleen Hart, the woman who claimed to be supplying methamphetamine to the label's founder as he died of cancer, saying he fears Hart's behaviour is damaging Moontide's reputation.

Hart has been sentenced to 11 months' home detention after admitting possession of more than $17,000 worth of the class A drug methamphetamine. She had told the Auckland High Court she bought the drug to give it to her dying ex-husband and Moontide founder, Tony Hart, to help him through his final days.

At her sentencing on Thursday she dropped a previous bid for a discharge without conviction.

Since her claims were reported in the Sunday Star-Times late last year, numerous close friends and business associates of Tony Hart's have contacted the newspaper to challenge her version of events.

Moontide Swimwear's group chief executive Robert Bright - based in Hong Kong - also moved to distance the brand name from Hart.

He said at the time news of the charges broke he was concerned that a company which Hart is a director of still carried the Moontide name, even though it is not operating as part of the swimwear company founded by Tony Hart.

"I bought Moontide in March 2008," Bright told the Sunday Star- Times at the time. "The company had 90 days to change its name and provide us with a certificate of change, but it did not and we kept asking for it . . . we are obviously pursuing this legally at the moment.

"My main concern is not my name - my main concern is the name of my company and to clear Tony's name. Accuse anybody when they are alive, but don't accuse somebody when they are not there to defend themselves. I think that's despicable."

He says Colleen Hart's claims in court that she was an occasional or recreational user of methamphetamine (P) were blatant lies and those who knew the Harts were aware she had a drug problem. Other people who have contacted the Star-Times back this claim.

One friend of the family who asked not to be named said: "I think it's atrocious that someone should avoid taking responsibility for their own f---ups by blaming someone who is not here to defend himself. I could see from Colleen's demeanour, from when they were first living together, the person she turned into [from the drugs]."

Colleen Hart joined Moontide in 1990 as a receptionist, a decade after Tony Hart founded the company. Shortly afterwards they became romantically involved and she began playing a more active role within the company. By 2006, when Tony Hart was ill, Colleen Hart was appointed acting managing director.

But Bright, who knew Tony Hart for 20 years, says Colleen Hart's drug use was getting out of control. "Because of her drug problems, Tony was getting calls from customers that she was erratic ...

"The whole reason for her split with her husband was due to her acute P addiction ... She was actually locked out of the company in 2007 by Tony Hart." Bright, who had been the overseas licensee, bought the company out the following year.

He said Hart's court case had been damaging to the internationally acclaimed brand.

"For me, the thing is to distance the Moontide brand from her ... Working with Tony, we made a real success of that brand ... That's a great legacy from Tony and New Zealand and now she's damaging that."

- © Fairfax NZ News