Mortgage fraudster's appeal application rejected

File photo / NZ Herald

Mortgage fraudster John Slavich has had an appeal application rejected because the court deemed him as having "no prospect of success".

Slavich applied for an extension of time to lodge an appeal against his conviction, but failed to include the $1087.50 file fee - a "simple error" on his part.

The Court of Appeal accepted it was a mistake by Slavich not to include the fee but rejected his appeal application because he had no chance of winning, said the judgement.

"There is no point in granting an extension of time to bring a hopeless appeal", it said.

Slavich, from Hamilton, was convicted of mortgage fraud in 2006 and sentenced to two years three months in jail over his part in a criminal ring, which involved more than $360,000 in fake loans.

He was also ordered to pay reparation of $60,000.

He has served his sentence but failed to pay the reparation and a judge in the High Court at Hamilton subsequently sentenced him to a further 4-1/2 months' jail.

The Court of Appeal rejected his appeal against the sentence so he turned to the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court.

It also rejected his appeal.

In September last year Slavich applied for an extension of time in which to again to file his appeal, but did not include the required filing fee.

He has been ordered to pay the application costs.