Ex-MP charged over $1.8m pokie scam

A long-serving former MP has appeared in court charged in connection with a $1.8 million pokie scam police describe as a "fraudulent money-go-round".

He is one of four charged with the alleged swindle involving Auckland tennis clubs, a charity donating books to children, and a variety of companies set up around gaming machines between 2003 and 2005, The Dominion Post reported today.

The accused, the ex-MP, an Auckland businessman and his wife, and a Christchurch businessman, whose names are suppressed, appeared in Auckland District Court for a depositions hearing yesterday.

The Auckland businessman is accused of arranging for the tennis clubs and children's charity to take grants of money raised by the pokie machines. They are then said to have paid money back to him through a series of companies involving his wife and fellow accused.

"In other words, the court is looking at a fraudulent money-go-round," Serious Fraud Office (SFO) senior prosecutor John Upton QC told the court.

The Auckland businessman is also accused of obtaining commissions from gaming machine makers and promising grants from his machines in return for "gifts" and "inducements".

He faces eight charges of accepting gifts under the 1910 Secret Commissions Act.

The SFO says the ex-MP and his wife - who has not been charged - ran companies through which $512,000 in grants was siphoned back from the children's charity, with some going to the ex-MP and $67,000 to the Auckland businessman's creditors.

When the former MP became aware of the investigation, he allegedly tried to put the SFO off the scent by faking a receipt book.

The Auckland businessman faces 11 fraud charges for the whole $1.8m. His wife and the Christchurch man face two charges each of fraud involving the tennis clubs and $1.3m.

The ex-MP faces a fraud charge and a charge of obstructing the course of justice involving the children's charity and $512,000.

The Auckland businessman has already conceded there is a case to answer on eight charges and is due to appear the High Court for trial in early November.

He will contest three further charges in Auckland District Court in December.

The three other accused are contesting the charges against them.

- NZPA