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A former Auckland Council building inspector is facing corruption and bribery charges.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) filed bribery and corruption charges against the former council building inspector and a second person, a director of an Auckland building company. Both accused appeared in the Manukau District Court today.
Nicholas Bright faces 21 charges of corruption and bribery of an official, the SFO said in a media release.
The building company director, who has interim name suppression, faces 23 charges of corruption and bribery of an official.
Bright received bribes in the form of cash and other benefits in connection with his work as a building inspector between 2018 and 2020, the SFO alleged.
He was remanded without plea when he appeared in court today, and was next scheduled to appear on May 7.
The building company director entered not guilty pleas and would next appear at a case review hearing on August 9.
Investigating potential corruption of public officials, particularly where health and safety may be compromised, was a focus for the SFO, the office’s director Karen Chang said.
“The SFO would like to acknowledge Auckland Council for referring this matter following their own investigations.”
Auckland Council responds
Council director of regulatory services Craig Hobbs said the issue came to light in the early days of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 when a staff member allegedly observed Bright working in an area of Auckland that he was not assigned to and raised this as a concern with their manager.
At the same time another anomaly surfaced during a normal review process. He said Bright was suspended from all duties pending an investigation. Disciplinary proceedings began but Bright resigned before they could progress. These events occurred over four weeks around May 2020.
Hobbs said Bright joined Auckland Council in 2018, having formerly worked for Manukau Building Consultants – a standalone entity that provided inspection services in the former Manukau City Council area, which was largely absorbed into Auckland Council’s building consents team in 2018. He resigned from the council in late May 2020.
“We cannot comment on the details of this case while it is before the court, however we would like to emphasise just how seriously we take situations like this,” said Hobbs.
”Taking advantage of our systems and behaving in the manner alleged is not only against the law but it is a breach of our trust and is extremely disappointing for everyone working in building consents who take pride in maintaining quality building standards for Aucklanders.”
Auckland Council said when the issue was identified it commenced an investigation, including an audit of all work by Bright, and referred the case to the police.
Hobbs said the council was not aware of any properties impacted by the case.
“All work that relates to these charges has been reviewed. For independence, we engaged a senior inspector from outside Auckland Council to carry out the review of his work,” he said.
Bribery case not the first for council
Stephen Borlase, the head of roading contracting business Projenz, was jailed in 2017 after what became New Zealand’s largest ever bribery prosecution.
An investigation by the Serious Fraud Office found Borlase bought-off Auckland Transport and Rodney District Council officials, including Murray Noone and Barrie George.
Borlase’s offending involved a series of kickbacks to Noone - more than $1 million - for contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to Projenz between 2005 and 2013.
He also gave George travel packages and gifts worth $103,580.
At the trial of Borlase and Noone, who have known each other since the late 1990s, the court heard of lavish spending by Projenz on Auckland Transport staff - including fine wines, whisky, travel and a $5500 marathon lunch at Viaduct restaurant Euro.
Stephen Borlase (left) and Murray Noone were jailed in 2017 in the country's largest bribery case. Photo / Greg Bowker
Borlase paid Noone about $100,000 in yearly “consulting fees” over seven years, in addition to several international trips and long lunches.
With the council contracts Projenz grew rapidly and made annual profits of $3.8m in the year before the offending was discovered, which came to light in 2013 when Noone took a holiday and a colleague expressed concerns over several payments to Borlase’s firm awaiting authorisation.
After being found guilty Borlase, who was removed from New Zealand’s engineering professional body for the offending, was sentenced to five years and six months’ imprisonment and Noone five years by Justice Sally Fitzgerald.
Borlase unsuccessfully challenged his conviction and sentence at the Court of Appeal, while Noone also failed in an appeal of his sentence in 2017.
George pleaded guilty in 2016 to accepting bribes from Borlase and was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention.
He gave evidence for the Crown against Borlase and Noone and recalled a 2006 function when Borlase “passed an envelope down along the table to me” as a “little gift in appreciation”. It was a travel voucher worth about $2000.
George said he showed Noone, his boss, and asked: “Did you know about this?”
George said had been advised by two colleagues at the dinner to not accept the gift.
“That was really the start of that particularly merry-go-round,” he said.
Sundeep Rasila and Sunil Chand, pictured in the High Court. Photo / Sam Hurley
And in 2020, former Auckland Council procurement relationship specialist Sundeep Dilip Rasila was sentenced to home detention for defrauding the local government body out of nearly $30,000.
The fraud was to help an old friend secure a nearly $150,000 Chinese tech goods contract.
The 42-year-old was responsible for dealing with existing suppliers of goods and services from June 2012 to April 2016.
The shady deal also involved 56-year-old commercial printing and office stationery supply businessman Sunil Chand and the allure of a $15,000 kickback.
Chand was to be sentenced at a later date after disputing some of the Crown’s case and then claiming he was the whistleblower, the Herald reported in 2020.
The pair had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of bribery of an official and payment of secret commission.
