Carel Viljoen appearing at Auckland District Court after being found guilty of money laundering in connection with a $2 million investment scam. Photo / Jason Dorday
Carel Viljoen appearing at Auckland District Court after being found guilty of money laundering in connection with a $2 million investment scam. Photo / Jason Dorday
A respected Auckland businessman found guilty of money laundering in connection with a $2 million scam has been warned by a judge he is headed to jail unless he pays significant reparation to his two victims.
But Carel Viljoen, 61, is pleading poverty after being sacked from his roleas a Beca principal - despite having earned $200,000 a year plus bonuses, owning his own home and having no dependants to support.
He has now been ordered to produce a statutory declaration detailing his assets and income, plus any trusts he controls, to establish the extent of his financial means ahead of sentencing.
“Clearly to your credit ... would be the availability of any payment by way of reparation which could be made to the victims of this offending, who are in total out of pocket by about $1.4m,” Judge Stephen Bonnar KC said yesterday.
Viljoen, who is receiving legal aid, was once responsible for costing major projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including the Waterview Tunnel and North Shore police station.
Following a trial in March, he was found guilty of money laundering after he opened a Westpac account, received nearly $2m, then funnelled the money overseas.
Northland man Steven Fan lost $1 million in an elaborate investment scam.
They were sent prospectus information including links to glowing media articles about fake investment company Magnitude Financial, and later payment instructions for the defendant’s Queen St Westpac account.
A staff member checked with her supervisor, who told her, “It’s his money, he can do whatever he wants”.
‘You own your own home’
Viljoen appeared for sentencing yesterday in Auckland District Court but the hearing was adjourned by Judge Bonnar after the money mule indicated he could not pay any reparation.
Judge Bonnar said he had been provided with a letter from Viljoen discussing his financial situation.
“You say in that letter that you would have liked to offer to pay back some money ... but you can’t offer anything because you have lost your employment because of your actions, and do not know if you will find employment again.”
But the judge did not accept this explanation and wanted proof of Viljoen’s financial affairs.
He said Viljoen told police he had been receiving a $200,000 salary at Beca, plus bonuses, “for a number of years”.
Judge Stephen Bonnar KC warned he is considering a prison sentence unless Viljoen can come up with significant reparation for his victims. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
“You own your own home and have no dependants.
“I have indicated to counsel that I require you to complete a declaration as to your financial capacity. The declaration is to cover all categories of income, assets, liabilities and outgoings, and include not only your assets but also any trusts or corporate entities over which you have effective control.”
The judge warned Viljoen that the current “starting point” he was considering for sentencing was “imprisonment of significantly more than two years”.
He pointed out that under sentencing laws, judges could not consider commuting a sentence to home detention unless the final sentence was less than two years’ jail.
The judge also warned Viljoen’s defence team not to mount any argument that he should receive a sentencing discount on the basis that roughly $600,000 of the stolen money was eventually recovered by the banks.
“The availability of substantial payment towards reparation ... in my view may be the difference between a sentence above two years and one which may fall between two years or less.”
Defence lawyer Angus Graham confirmed his client would prepare the requested declaration and sought an adjournment for that to occur.
‘We trust in God’
Fan now cares full time for his sick wife. The $1m investment proceeds were meant to help pay for a rest home when he can no longer look after her.
Asked yesterday how the couple was holding up, he replied: “Well we are Christians so we trust in God. Without that we’d probably be in pieces”.
Beca originally provided an affidavit to the court supporting name suppression for its former employee on the grounds publication could harm the company and its reputation.
The affidavit said that should Viljoen’s name be linked to money laundering charges, Beca would need to consider “whether he could credibly continue in his role”.
Beca costings expert Carel Johannes Viljoen was found guilty of two counts of money laundering in connection with two victims who lost a combined $2 million to an elaborate offshore investment scam. Photo / Alyse Wright
The affidavit also said Beca would need to consider “whether, because of his seniority and link with the financial costing aspect of projects, his continued employment calls Beca’s own reputation into question”.
The Herald asked Beca why it continued to employ Viljoen while he faced serious criminal charges, whether it was appropriate to employ someone involved in costing large-scale infrastructure projects while they were before the courts in connection with an international investment scam, and whether Beca disclosed Viljoen’s criminal charges to clients while he was awaiting trial.
In a statement, a spokesman said: “Beca is not at liberty to discuss employment matters”.
Lane Nichols is a senior journalist and Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
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