Ross convictions `out of proportion'

The judge who quashed Craig Ross' convictions said Ross believed "honestly but misguidedly" he was acting in rowing's interests.

The judge who overturned former Rowing New Zealand boss Craig Ross' convictions for fraud found convicting him would be "out of all proportion to the gravity of the offences".

Mr Ross, 52, last month had his convictions for fraud overturned in a High Court appeal at Rotorua.

He was convicted in the Tauranga District Court in July after admitting nine fraud charges, but appealed his convictions.

Justice Paul Heath overturned Mr Ross' convictions, discharging him without conviction on each of the nine charges, but ordered he pay $15,000 in costs - half each to Rowing NZ and the Crown. All previous fines were cancelled.

Mr Ross resigned from Rowing NZ in September last year amid allegations of funding application irreg-ularities. He was eventually charged with nine counts of fraud relating to more than 30 separate grant applications made between June 2005 and July 2007.

The charges alleged Mr Ross used documents he knew were forged and which enabled him to take shortcuts and speed up the process when applying to charitable organisations to help RNZ buy travel, apparel, boats and oars.

RNZ is yet to appoint a fulltime replacement for Mr Ross.

In his just-released ruling, Justice Heath said Mr Ross believed "honestly but misguidedly" that he was acting in the best interests of the sport. "In seven of the nine cases, the forgeries of signatures ... were no more than ill-judged `shortcuts' that Mr Ross undertook to `speed up' the grant application process."

Because the charitable organisations confirmed that had applications been submitted correctly in the first place the funding would still have been awarded, it showed there was no loss to any third parties.

Justice Heath said it was clear the offending was deliberate, but identified three "powerful mitigating factors".

They were that Mr Ross did not gain personally and did not mean to cause loss to any third party, and no third party suffered any loss.

Finally, in relation to purchasing Italian rather than New Zealand boats, he did not use false documents to obtain more money than could have been sought legitimately had he made a genuine application for funds to buy New Zealand boats.

Other mitigating factors included his remorse, co-operation with police, his early acceptance of responsibility and the way his career, finances and family reputation had been affected.

The only adverse consequence of his actions was a loss of confidence in the grant process.

Ordering Mr Ross to pay costs was not a punishment, but was best described "as a sanction".

Waikato University school of law senior lecturer Wayne Rumbles said the discharge would not set a precedent, "as it is an exercise of judicial discretion, applied on a case by case basis and is only used in exceptional circumstances - so in that respect it is an unusual move".

"Justice Heath appeared to be swayed by the fact that the fraud was not for personal gain, and there was no loss (at least financial) by the third parties."

There is no chance of an appeal against the quashing of Mr Ross' convictions. The Waikato Times understands the Tauranga crown solicitor asked Crown Law in Wellington to consider an appeal but Mr Ross' legal team said there was no right of appeal under law.

- © Fairfax NZ News