Mobile trader's name suppression bid fails

Police arrested former Flexi Buy director, Vikram Mehta, and the Commerce Commission charged him in September. Photo / Supplied

A mobile trader facing dishonesty charges has lost a bid for name suppression and says he feels "singled out unfairly" by the Commerce Commission.

Police arrested former Flexi Buy director, Vikram Mehta, and the Commerce Commission charged him in September with obtaining money by deception and accepting payment from customers without intending to supply the goods they contracted to purchase.

He later made a bid for name suppression, which an Auckland District Court judge rejected in October, but granted on an interim basis pending his High Court appeal against that decision.

Mobile traders, also known as truck shops, traditionally sell goods door-to-door and the charges against Mehta followed a year-long investigation into the industry by the regulator.

Flexi Buy was one of the mobile traders named in a subsequent Commerce Commission report but Mehta is the only operator who has been prosecuted.

Mehta, according to the High Court's Justice Timothy Brewer, feels singled out unfairly because of this.

Mehta argued publication of his name could risk prejudicing his trial. Because it was publicly known that the commission investigated 32 mobile trader businesses, he claimed potential witnesses or jurors may be influenced by his position as the only one charged.

But Justice Brewer said that did not meet the required threshold.

"It is not enough to say that the principle of open justice should not apply because if a person's name is published and the particulars of the charges he faces are published then those who become aware of them might think badly of the defendant. There has to be more than that," the judge said.

" I see nothing in Mr Mehta's position which is out of the ordinary. There are commonly far more high-profile cases than Mr Mehta's where the name of the defendant is known and where the news media eagerly and serially publish details of the allegations. Very often the circumstances which give rise to charges are likely to invoke real emotion or distaste in the minds of the public. But that is insufficient to be likely to create a real risk of prejudice to fair trial. There has to be something particular. Here there is not," Justice Brewer said.

He dismissed Mehta's appeal on Friday.

The commission's report into mobile traders in August found they typically target poorer communities, particularly in Auckland, with non-compliant contracts, steep prices and often lower-quality goods than can be bought at ordinary shops.

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