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The Serious Fraud Office has reportedly charged seven people with fraud over "Powdergate", the scandal over the alleged illegal export of $50 million of milk powder.
The Dominion Post reports today that SFO director David Bradshaw had confirmed that the seven had been charged with conspiracy to defraud. All seven had
name suppression.
The SFO launched its investigation into Powdergate 18 months ago after the Ministry of Agriculture had investigated allegations by the then Dairy Board.
Board chief executive Warren Larsen blew the whistle on export breaches in 2001 after discovering milk powder overseas that had not been exported through the board, which at the time had an export monopoly.
The board was rolled into the industry mega-merger that created New Zealand's biggest company, Fonterra, that year.
An investigation by Fonterra, which hired former detective John Hughes, found there had been breaches of export rules in 2000 and 2001, but it put them down to over-zealous employees and said it found no evidence of improper personal gain.
The allegations centre on the actions of companies involved with Kiwi Dairies, which merged with Dairy Group to form Fonterra.
Kiwi Dairies subsidiary South Pacific Distributors Ltd bought the milk product off Kiwi and sold it to Australian company Cottee Dairy Products, also connected to Kiwi Dairies, which allegedly sold it internationally.
The Dominion Post said it understood that former Fonterra and Kiwi Dairies boss Craig Norgate was not one of those charged.
In Auckland, an SFO spokeswoman today confirmed that seven people had appeared in Auckland District Court last week charged with conspiracy to defraud.
She said the seven had name suppression and further details about the case were not available.
She understood that the next hearing date had not yet been set.
- NZPA
Herald Feature: Powdergate
