BusinessDesk explains how the Du Val property group run by Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke was put under statutory management. Video / NZME
How jewellery, artwork and firearms in the possession of Du Val’s Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke were paid for has been a focus of PwC accountants untangling the Du Val Group situation, court documents say.
The March 7 affidavit of PwC’s John Fisk was released yesterday by High Court Justice Jane Anderson after a media application for access.
Parts of that were redacted after the Clarkes opposed its release.
In the affidavit, Fisk revealed what’s been happening behind the scenes since last August’s raid by police and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) on the couple’s rented Remuera home.
Fisk’s affidavit said a portion of the receivers’ work following the appointment of statutory managers and receivers had focused on how assets in Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke’s possession had been paid for.
Police with gun cases on August 2 last year when they entered the Remuera address of Du Val's Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke. Photo / Alex Burton
“We... carried out investigations to identify what assets (particularly jewellery, artworks and firearms) existed and appears to be in the Clarkes’ possession.
“That involved undertaking a detailed and complex analysis from available records to determine how those assets were paid for.”
Fisk, Stephen White and Lara Bennett took over the running of Du Val last August after the FMA raided the Clarke’s Auckland residence and seized jewellery, artworks, and firearms.
Fisk said investigations into the property of the Clarkes and their family trust had been a substantial portion of the receivers’ work.
He named the couple, the JK & CM Clarke Trust and Karapiro Corporate Trustee, as trustee.
The court had made various orders for the Clarkes to deliver assets “and for them to provide information about any assets that they could not deliver”, Fisk noted.
Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke of Du Val Group which is in statutory management.
Charlotte Clarke provided a February 17 affidavit outlining the Clarkes’ position on the jewellery items, Fisk said.
Further work was now needed in relation to those assets, Fisk said:
“First, any further steps to ensure that all of the relevant assets are accounted for and in the receivers’ control;
“Second, further steps to resolve the correct ownership position of those assets as between the Clarkes, the trust and various Du Val entities.”
Ron Mansfield KC leads the Clarkes' expert legal team. Photo / Michael Craig
The Clarkes’ expert legal team is led by senior criminal lawyer Ron Mansfield KC, with Simon Cogan.
Justice Anderson noted the couple opposed media applications for access to Fisk’s affidavit, “or alternatively proposed the updating affidavit be released with certain redactions”.
The Clarkes wanted an opportunity to test the evidence filed and said publication would jeopardise their fair trial rights.
She said that care needs to be taken to avoid “uninformed speculation caused by publication of disputed statements or statements about the receivers’ possible further activities” in a context where the Clarkes would have difficulty responding to assertions they reject.
The receivers’ reports on companies would give an update in any event, the Clarkes argued.
But Justice Anderson said there was significant public interest in the steps the receivers had taken, including through the courts.
“In my view, the appropriate balance is met by giving the media access to the receivers’ updating affidavit with the redactions proposed by the Clarkes,” she wrote in her April 1 minute.
Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke of Du Val Group which is in statutory management.
On social media, Kenyon Clarke has challenged PwC and the Financial Markets Authority’s actions, saying that it has been eight months yet no charges have been laid against him and asking why not.
In December, PwC receivers told the court how insurance policy and valuation details at the Clarkes’ home indicated nine valuable jewellery items, which were then yet to be located.
Last month, PwC’s latest report showed Du Val debts blew out from $238 million to $306m.
PwC’s report was on 70 companies and entities, saying further extensive forensic investigation was needed.
Kenyon Clarke in a photograph taken by car dealer John Murphy.
Fisk’s March 7 affidavit said PwC would file a six-monthly receivers’ report on various Du Val entities today.
Last month, the Herald reported how car dealer John Murphy said he has filed papers with the Auckland District Court seeking the registrar’s approval to take a private criminal prosecution against Du Val founder Kenyon Clarke.
The charges listed in the document are theft and intentional damage — Murphy claims Clarke grabbed and stole his iPhone 15, which he says police told him was recovered by police in the Du Val founder’s swimming pool.
The alleged incident occurred at about 4pm on February 17 — beginning with a stand-off between Clark and Murphy, who had used his mobile phone to take photographs of the beleaguered property developer outside Clarke’s rented home in the affluent Auckland suburb of Remuera.
Clarke told the Herald “The guy’s a total [expletive]. A total weirdo. He tried to run me over.”
Murphy denies this.
Asked if the phone wound up in the pool, Clarke said: “Who knows where the phone is? I don’t give a [expletive].”
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
