A disbarred lawyer on trial for allegedly laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars claims he was trying to raise funds from “high wealth” international investors to fund a $1 billion solar energy project involving the operator of New Zealand’s power grid.
But Rohineet Sharma told police he’d been repeatedly “duped and scammed” in his bid to secure finance for the ambitious business venture and denied being personally involved in any criminal activity.
Sharma, 56, faces 10 counts of money laundering in alleged offending involving more than $600,000 relating to two separate victims.
Police say he received a $204,000 fraudulent payment into his ANZ account in September 2020 from a Gisborne forestry company.
He received another $400,000 payment into his Kiwibank account in February 2023, which it’s accepted was the proceeds of a complex investment scam.
The 2023 victim was luxury yacht skipper Tim Michalick, who believed he was investing his family’s life savings in a secure HSBC term deposit.
Within days of the money landing in his account, Sharma used it to pay for renovations on his luxury St Heliers home, private school fees at Diocesan School for Girls, and other business expenses.
He was first charged with money laundering in 2021 over the initial $204,000 payment, then again in May 2023 over the Michalick deposit. Sharma fought unsuccessfully for permanent suppression and went on trial last week in Auckland District Court before Judge Simon Lance.
On Thursday a recorded video interview Sharma gave police on the day of his 2023 arrest was played to the court.
Dressed in shorts and a sports jacket, Sharma told the police officer he had not had breakfast or taken his diabetes medication. He also said he had a “terrible headache” and was suffering from concussion due to a football injury.
The police officer said she wanted to discuss the $400,000 deposit.
“What do you want to know?” Sharma said.
He told the officer he was chief executive of Green Solar 2024 Ltd, which was raising funds to build solar power plants.
He outlined plans for a “billion-dollar”, 700-megawatt project involving grid operator Transpower that he hoped to build “within the decade”.
Sharma – who was struck off as a lawyer in 2019 for filing false mortgage documents – said he had been trying to raise capital for the project since 2016 but was repeatedly knocked back by New Zealand banks.
This meant he was now attempting to source funds from international lenders and “high wealth” foreign individuals.
Sharma said he had a business associate in India who knew he was looking for finance. The associate put him in touch with a broker who could arrange lending to cover Sharma’s “overdue” business expenses.
In about December 2022, the broker told Sharma a lender was willing to provide $400,000, the court heard.
“I received the money, I used the money,” Sharma said.
“That money was a loan from a person called Tim Michalick,” Sharma said. “You want to know more?”
He said he never met Michalick but received a signed loan agreement through the broker and copy of Michalick’s passport.
“I was quite relieved,” Sharma said.
“It looked very nice and proper.”
He said he had “full trust” in the arrangement because “at least I know the people”.
Sharma claimed he paid the broker a $7000 commission to a Malaysian account for arranging the loan.
However, things went south later that month when a Kiwibank staffer contacted Sharma to inform him his account had been frozen and a “fraud investigator” would be in touch.
He was contacted by the bank again a week later asking about the circumstances surrounding the deposit.
Kiwibank wanted to see the loan agreement and Sharma said he was happy to send it.
He then contacted his associate in India, saying: “I have been told this is not good money. Tell me what’s happening. I am in the dark.”
Asked about the terms of the supposed loan, Sharma said the money was to be repaid over “five or six” years at an interest rate of “3 or 4%”.
No repayments were required for at least a year, Sharma told the officer, but he said this was not unusual when conducting business ventures of this type.
Money would be repaid through his business once the plants were built and started generating cash, he claimed.
In the meantime, Sharma said he was “continuing in my endeavours” to raise more finance, revealing he had a Zoom call scheduled that day with another US lender.
He claimed he had approached “at least 100 companies overseas because of the magnitude of what we want to do”.
“I’ve tried asking for money here but it’s very difficult if you go to the banks.”
Sharma also revealed he had been “duped and scammed myself” in his search for offshore funding in the US, Dubai and South Africa, involving supposed law firms and accountants.
“I’ve paid US$150,000 [$254,000] to someone and got scammed.”
The officer then questioned why Sharma was still seeking overseas loans “even today”, despite losing money to previous rorts, his account being closed due to suspected fraud, and his subsequent arrest for money laundering.
Sharma told police he was happy to provide the loan agreement and other documents to “prove the authenticity” of his arrangement with Michalick.
“To this day I’m told it’s all good and proper, and yet Kiwibank has shut my account and I’m sitting here with you.”
Sharma’s lawyer Fletcher Pilditch, KC, then made a “no case” submission, asking for the charges to be thrown out.
He told the court there was insufficient evidence to prove his client’s guilt.
It was admitted that the money deposited into Sharma’s account in both cases was fraudulent and that Sharma had dealt with that money by making payments.
But the police position that Sharma had been reckless as to whether that money was the proceeds of criminal offending was not supported by evidence.
Pilditch said there was no suggestion Sharma was party to either scam, which were likely perpetuated by an international organised crime group.
It was up to the prosecution to prove Sharma had acted unreasonably.
“Mr Sharma’s beliefs are his beliefs. We need to assess his conduct in light of the beliefs he had.”
However, prosecutor Mohammed Chiraagh said there were obvious “red flags”.
He questioned how the scammers came to have Sharma’s bank account details and why they would have sent him $600,000 in stolen money.
Sharma’s apparent naivety could perhaps be explained if he was a “regular dude”, Chiraagh told the court.
But by his own admission, Sharma was a “big man” involved in “big projects”, using money from rich international investors.
His explanations didn’t add up, Chiraagh alleged.
Judge Lance dismissed the no case application, ruling there was sufficient evidence to provide “inferences” about Sharma’s conduct and whether or not he knew the money was scam proceeds.
But whether the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt was yet to be determined, the judge said.
The defence opted not to call any evidence.
Judge Lance reserved his decision, which will be handed down later this month.
Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
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