Fraudster fronts critics

Leicester Monk has admitted he's a problem gambler. Photo / Jason Dorday

A convicted fraudster accused of ripping hundreds of thousands of dollars off a number of his former friends has admitted he is a problem gambler.

Leister Monk, a 71-year-old law student at the University of Auckland, has borrowed huge sums of money from individuals over many years.

Police have been investigating but don't have enough evidence to charge him. Monk, who was bankrupted in 2004 and featured on Fair Go this week, last night admitted he was a problem gambler and apologised to his former friends for not honouring an estimated $600,000 worth of loans.

"I would agree that I have probably acted in an irresponsible - not criminally irresponsible - manner and made some bad decisions and acted in an amoral manner."

He said he needed to see Gamblers Anonymous and as a student he did not have enough money to pay back the loans.

But those who have lost money to Monk want police involved and him stopped from being able to borrow more money.

Di Sinclair gave Monk $135,000 over many months, starting in March last year.

The 61-year-old Northlander says she was told by Monk that he was part of a consortium that had invested in a film about rugby, and the finance company backing the film had gone bust.

To get his money back he needed to pay penalties, tax and other fees to have money released from liquidators. Sinclair said Monk kept asking for money and gave her receipts for the "loans" she gave him. "I believed him because it was easier to believe him than to think about the alternative.

"He has ruined so many lives. He just has to be stopped."

Once they found out what had been happening, Sinclair's family contacted private investigator Julia Hartley Moore from firm Arbeth & Co, who dug up a lot of information on him over a year.

In 1988 Monk was sentenced in Wellington District Court to two years' jail for taking $540,000 from the Nurserymen's Association. He was convicted of a multitude of charges, including theft, drawing up a document without authority and falsifying a document.

His former conviction happened about the time of his divorce from former National Party president Michelle Boag.

Boag said she had no interest in talking about Monk. "If you mention I was married to him, I expect you to mention I divorced him 22 years ago."

More people who claim they have been victims of Monk have come forward.

One woman, who wanted to be known only as Margie, said she lost $50,000 in a year about 15 years ago.

She lent him money to pay lawyers to release money from a US trust, a period which turned her from "a happy person to an absolute mess".

Another woman in her 70s gave a similar story.

Counties-Manukau Detective Senior Sergeant Al Symonds said: "I understand the frustrations that some people have, but we're doing the best we can."

The file had been open since 2008 and the investigation has been ongoing the whole time, he said.

"It is a complicated issue. It doesn't matter what we think or even what we know - it matters what we can prove."

Police said anyone who may have dealt with Monk should call the Papakura CIB on (09) 261 1300.

Do you know Leister Monk? Email Kieran here.