A well-known Rotorua man has appeared in the Rotorua District Court facing several fraud charges involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The man, granted name suppression until January 10, appeared in court recently on four charges of fraud and one of theft brought against him by the Serious Fraud Office.
The man
is charged that between July 2007 and February, 2008 at Rotorua and elsewhere in New Zealand, by deception, obtained control over $338,834.48, being funds entrusted by a group of people.
It is alleged the man falsely represented to the group that its money would be invested in a bank. He is alleged to have failed to disclose to the trust that the funds would be used to clear an inheritance and that the group's money would be used to "purchase cleaning fluid to clean cash" and he would personally profit from the use of the group's money to the sum of about US$5 million (NZ$6.6 million).
The man also faces three counts of falsely representing a bank by saying loans advanced by the bank would be applied for an overseas property transaction.
The man has been remanded on bail to appear in the Rotorua District Court on January 10. Serious Fraud Office general manager of fraud and corruption, Nick Paterson, said he could not comment on the case.
