Publisher responds after SFO referral

David Johnson, chairman and publisher of Trends Publishing International. Supplied to New Zealand Herald

A publishing company which had its taxpayer grant suspended believes it meets the criteria for the funding and says it will respond to any concerns.

The Serious Fraud Office confirmed yesterday it was considering a referral from the Government's research and development body about the company, Trends Publishing International.

Callaghan Innovation has suspended a grant given to Trends, which is based in Ellerslie and associated with home and design publication Trends Magazine.

The type of grant Trends received was non-discretionary, which meant if a company met the relevant criteria it was eligible for the funding.

The firm received $332,966 from Callaghan before the grant was put on hold, the Government body said.

"Concerns about the legitimacy of some of Trends' claims against the approved R&D funding led to an internal investigation, followed by an independent audit. The matter has also been referred to the Serious Fraud Office," Callaghan Innovation said.

Trends Publishing International director David Johnson said that yesterday was the first the company had heard from Callaghan since the audit began.

"Callaghan's procedures allow for Trends to respond to points in the draft [audit] report before it is finalised," he said.

"The company will be addressing Callaghan's concerns through that process and demonstrating that it believes it has met the qualification criteria that Callaghan has set out for this grant."

Callaghan Innovation said yesterday suspension of a grant gave a company time to respond to a notice of a breach before it decided whether to terminate the taxpayer grant.