Supreme Court turns down Lombard four's bid to recall judgment

Wednesday 22nd July 2015

The Supreme Court has turned down a bid by the former directors of Lombard Finance & Investments to recall an earlier judgment refusing them leave to appeal their convictions.

The country's top bench dismissed the application by former Justice Ministers Doug Graham and Bill Jeffries, former PR man for the Queen Lawrie Bryant, and Lombard’s ex-boss Michael Reeves, saying the grounds on which the recall was based "were all completely misconceived" and "presented without anyone having made a serious attempt to analyse the grounds which were advanced or the figures relied on," Chief Justice Sian Elias and Justices William Young and Susan Glazebrook said in their written decision released today.

"The recall application is very much a second shot, based in large measure on arguments which, if meritorious, could and should have been, but were not, advanced when leave to appeal was first sought," the judges said. "In the result, counsel for the Crown have been required to chase down a series of hares which the applicant ought never to have started."

Last year, the Supreme Court sided with the directors on whether their custodial sentences were too severe, saying their conduct didn't warrant imprisonment, and that they were "honest men" who made bad calls under pressure. They weren't granted leave to appeal their convictions, as there was no appearance of a miscarriage of justice and their appeal didn't raise a point of law of general or public importance.

In seeking the recall, the Lombard four claimed trial judge Justice Robert Dobson based the convictions on evidence that wasn't formally proved and which defence hadn't agreed to enter into evidence, and that there were procedural flaws at trial that were misrecorded in the Court of Appeal.

"In refusing leave to appeal against conviction, the Court was well aware that the Peden schedule had not been produced as a Crown exhibit or proved in evidence," the judges said.

The bench will consider whether to order the applicants to pay costs.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet