Police are investigating the dealings of the promoter of what was to have been New Zealand's richest golf tournament.
Frank Burgess is promoter of the $650,000 New Zealand Women's Golf Classic, which was to be held in Lower Hutt next month.
It had attracted many leading players, but the event was stripped
of its official status by European authorities just before Christmas.
Top players, including world No 1 Australian Karrie Webb, have pulled out and Hutt Golf Club has stopped preparing the course.
Mr Burgess has not been heard of for weeks and is believed to be in the United States.
Detective Senior Sergeant Stephen Vaughan, head of Wellington police's CIB, confirmed that a complaint had been laid relating to Mr Burgess.
"The file is being assessed with a view to seeing if it's a matter for police or one for the Serious Fraud Office. This relates to his involvement as a receiver of money from charity trusts."
Anxious sponsors are still trying to track Mr Burgess, including Holden New Zealand, which wants to repossess a new car it gave him as part of its package.
The car is parked outside Mr Burgess' Wellington home.
The tournament's collapse is not Mr Burgess' first money troubles.
Wellington-based sports collective Sports Services said this week that Mr Burgess' resignation as its lease administrator was accepted in August 1999 after three rent payments to the Wellington City Council were not made and money was unaccounted for.
Council spokeswoman Trina Saffioti said that Sports Services owed it $22,000 in unpaid rent. The parties have now resolved the issue.
And travel company BTI Barlow has been pursuing Mr Burgess through a debt collection agency for an outstanding sum of $36,575.
The amount relates to unpaid travel two years ago.
This week, a man who said he was Mr Burgess' brother James, said that Mr Burgess was due home shortly. He said he was a lawyer and that Mr Burgess had asked him for his input in sorting out problems with the tournament.
James Burgess' name does not appear in Law Directory 2000, the book that lists practising lawyers in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, $20,000 given by the Community Trust to Mr Burgess for the tournament has been given to Hutt Golf Club.
- NZPA
