A former dealer in used cars was acquitted yesterday of conspiring to wind back odometers in vehicles destined to be sold in New Zealand.
Andrew John Gummer had denied one fraud charge of conspiring with a Japanese company and Japanese individuals.
The prosecution was brought by Dermot Nottingham, a former car salesman
who created headlines in 1997 with allegations of widespread odometer tampering. He brought the case privately after the Serious Fraud Office refused to prosecute.
During the period in question, from 1995 to 1997, Gummer was a licensed motor vehicle dealer in Wairau Rd, Takapuna, in a business trading as United Car Sales.
Judge Phil Gittos said evidence produced in the five-week hearing in the Auckland District Court proved beyond reasonable doubt that some vehicles Gummer imported through a Japanese company had had their odometers wound back.
But Judge Gittos said Mr Nottingham did not prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Gummer conspired with the Japanese company, Nikki International Corporation, or anybody else named in the prosecution.
