Len Brown's wife faces private prosecution by McCready

Shan Inglis will be served with court papers next week, as Graham McCready seeks to launch a private prosecution against her. Photo / NZ Herald

Auckland Mayor Len Brown's wife is now in the sights of Wellington man Graham McCready, who is considering laying a private prosecution against her over her husband's hotel upgrades and freebies.

Mr McCready this week lodged charging documents at the Auckland District Court against Mr Brown, which say Mr Brown "accepted a bribe for himself and his wife" in not disclosing free hotel rooms and upgrades from SkyCity.

At the time the Mayor was championing the pokies-for-convention-centre deal.

Mr McCready said he would be in Auckland on Monday to file briefs of evidence in that matter and would also seek legal advice about whether there was enough evidence to lay charges against the Mayor's wife Shan Inglis.

Mr McCready alleged gifts in her name were a "laundering exercise" to avoid Mr Brown having to declare them on the register of interests.

The Mayor has so far stayed silent since the charges against him were laid and a spokesman from his office said today neither Mr Brown or his wife had any comment.

Nobody came to the gate when APNZ visited their Manukau home today but Mr Brown has previously said 98 per cent of hotel rooms were arranged by his wife, with help from his office. None of the upgrades or free rooms were requested.

Mr McCready said he would prepare two charging documents against Ms Inglis anyway.

"There's no doubt that there's culpability. It sends a message to all of these spouses," Mr McCready said.

"By accepting these freebies, Ms Inglis became a party to her husband's alleged offending and in the interest of justice she ought to be made accountable."

There were, however, barriers to laying a further private prosecution.

Mr McCready said he thought the court might be less likely to take matters further if more charges were laid, while the $60 fee for lodging charging documents could prove prohibitive as he only had $20 in his bank account.

A spokeswoman for SkyCity was unable to comment late today.

The charges laid against Mr Brown allege that between November 2010 and November last year, he received upgrades and free rooms Mr McCready calculated as being worth $4600.

This lead to "favourable consideration" from Mr Brown towards SkyCity and parent company SkyCity Casinos, the charging documents say.

The prosecution will now go through an administrative process and for it to get to court, a district court judge will have to decide if it is worth continuing.

Mr Brown's failure to declare more than $39,000 in free rooms and upgrades at seven hotels emerged in a EY (Ernst & Young) report published after revelations of his two-year affair with aspiring politician Bevan Chuang.