Name secrecy lost for woman facing fraud charges

Linnet Lewis, 54, can now be identified as the woman facing 26 Serious Fraud Office charges in the Rotorua District Court. Photo/Stephen Parker

A Rotorua woman facing a raft of Serious Fraud Office charges has lost her appeal for continual name suppression.

Linnet Bernadine Lewis, 54, had her appeal for interim name suppression dismissed in the High Court at Rotorua yesterday by Justice Graham Lang.

She pleaded not guilty in December to 16 counts of theft by a person in a special relationship, five charges of dishonestly taking or using a document and five charges of forgery.

The Serious Fraud Office alleges clients have lost about $1 million through unauthorised withdrawals of their funds by Lewis between 2005 and 2011.

Judge James Weir ruled her name suppression would end in February.

Her lawyer Andy Schulze yesterday argued the Serious Fraud Office had provided him with four discs of disclosures in electronic form which consisted about 42,900 documents.

He had applied to extend the interim name suppression for a further three months to the case review hearing. This would give him time to review the documents in case there was any material that might prejudice a fair trail.

"As counsel I'm entitled to view these documents to come to an informed view and advise my client in a meaningful and appropriate way," Mr Schulze said.

Crown prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said the "vague possibility of prejudice" did not qualify for grounds to continue suppression.

"Name suppression is not justified at this time, if there are future risks the court has a host of opportunities to ensure a fair trial such as the suppression of content of the case."

Justice Lang ruled that at present there was no risk of a fair trial with the publication of Lewis' name.

"It is not a case of multiple offenders, the issue of severance is down the track and the court is likely to call all charges in a single trial," he said.

Lewis is on bail and will reappear in court on April 16.