Award-winning Hawke's Bay author Alan Duff has declared himself bankrupt in France, leaving New Zealand creditors doubting whether they will ever see anything of the debts he left owing in this country.
The author of 1990s success story Once Were Warriors, Duff owed at least $3.6 million in a financial demise
once put down to poor property development plans.
He staved off bankruptcy in the High Court in Napier, with the leniency of creditors he hoped to repay from the proceeds of books being written in seclusion in France.
One creditor, owed about $2.4 million, had been reported as being prepared to write-off the debt if it meant helping avoid making the writer bankrupt.
But the books, Dreamboat Dad and Who Sings for Lu? have shown no sign of matching the bookshelf and movie triumphs of Warriors.
Duff, now in his 60s and from Havelock North, has declared himself bankrupt at Chateau de La Dorée in France, but it was not known today whether he might return to New Zealand for any further proceedings. The position here will be handled by the Official Assignee in Napier.
Among those affected are family of Erin Begley, who died in late-2009, who, with sister Deirdre, was owed $424,000.
Most creditors agreed to the earlier deferrment in the hope of seeing some return, but it was opposed by Auckland-based Mutual Finance Group, which was owed $36,000.
Lawyer John Waymouth, today overseas, was reported to have said the insolvency agreement had proven to be "fiction" in terms of Duff's ability to repay.
