A lawyer acting for a former car dealer accused of odometer fraud by the Serious Fraud Office says his client is the victim of "double jeopardy".
John Mather told Justice Robert Chambers in the High Court at Auckland the dealer had already been cleared of an odometer charge and should not stand trial again.
In June 2000, Judge Phil Gittos acquitted Andrew John Gummer of conspiring with a Japanese company and individuals to wind back the odometers of Japanese imports.
It was a private prosecution by self-styled whistle-blower and justice campaigner Dermot Nottingham.
The SFO had already laid very similar charges against Gummer.
The SFO now wants to proceed with those charges.
A jury trial had been set down for next Monday.
The defence had asked the district court to accept a special plea of previous acquittal or alternatively that the trial would be an abuse of process.
Mr Mather said that documentary evidence which was central in the private prosecution was also the main evidence in the SFO prosecution.
District Court Judge Graham Hubble did not grant the application.
Mr Mather has now appealed against Judge Hubble's decision to the High Court.
Yesterday, Justice Chambers ordered the district court to delay Monday's trial pending a review.
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