Heart of the City launches civil proceedings against Alex Swney

Alex Swney. Photo / Natalie Slade

Auckland's Heart of the City has launched civil proceedings against its former chief executive, who is currently embroiled in a multimillion-dollar criminal court case.

Alex Gordon Swney, 57, who ran the publicly-funded organisation, faces 39 charges laid by the Inland Revenue Department alleging he did not pay $1.8 million in tax.

He denied the charges when he last appeared at Auckland District Court in October.

Today, Heart of the City - registered by Swney in 1994 - confirmed an independent investigation had been completed by McGrathNicol and action had been taken as a result.

Chairman Terry Gould said they had also obtained interim asset freezing and disclosure orders from the court

The court file is subject to confidentiality restrictions and Mr Gould said it was inappropriate to comment further, given the matter was before the court.

Swney was due to appear in court this month but that hearing was rescheduled for the end of January.

At his last appearance, his lawyer David Jones, QC, indicated the matter would progress to judge-alone trial.

Heart of the City had its AGM at the end of October at which Mr Gould told stakeholders he was in constant communication with the Serious Fraud Office.

"About six weeks ago my intention was to focus almost entirely on our great work and many achievements but the events of the last couple of weeks have obviously changed that," he said at the meeting.

"The recent termination [of Swney's contract] and associated revelations and allegations have clearly been extremely disappointing and gravely concerning."

Mr Gould told board members and business owners investigators would check "every single invoice"

Swney could not be contacted for comment this afternoon.