Corporate fraudster Ian Edward Watson has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $17,000 reparation for ripping off his former employer.
In the High Court at Auckland yesterday, Justice John Laurenson sentenced Watson, aged 63, of Paihia, to 18 months' jail on three counts of accepting gifts in the form
of international travel for him and members of his family, as well as a total of $40,000 from William Knape's Dyetex Agencies, a supplier to Watson's former employer, New Zealand Wool Spinners (NZWS).
Watson, the former dyehouse manager at the Dannevirke plant, was sentenced to three months' jail on two counts of using a document with intent to defraud by failing to declare the secret payments to the tax department. The terms were to be served concurrently.
Justice Laurenson described Watson as being without remorse. The sentence was intended to act as a deterrent to "all those similarly minded," he said, and he refused Watson leave to apply for home detention.
But Watson's lawyer, Gerrard Winter, said that an appeal against the sentence would be lodged within a week.
"New evidence" would be introduced that he said came to light the day after Watson's conviction in May.
The order to pay reparation to NZWS was stayed until the Court of Appeal had decided on the matter.
Watson, who is undergoing psychiatric treatment for depression, has been granted bail on the same terms as those set out when he was convicted, which include reporting by phone to the Serious Fraud Office in Auckland three times a week.
Much confused discussion in court centred on what assets Watson should have to pay reparation on to NZWS.
Justice Laurenson was scathing of what he called Watson's "determination ... to denude yourself of assets" by placing most of his assets into a trust "in expectation of having to face sentence."
NZWS's losses - from paying over-inflated prices for dyes, obstruction of other suppliers and the general favouring of Dyetex between 1993 and 1995 - were not able to be quantified, but both the Crown and defence counsel agreed that Watson accepted gifts worth $63,648.
Senior managers at NZWS were described in victim impact reports as "absolutely gutted" by the trusted employee's betrayal between 1993 and 1995.
