Ex-CEO's fine covered by insurance

By Graeme Kennedy and correspondents

Friday 26th July 2002

Former Qantas New Zealand chief executive and director Kevin Doddrell has put his airline days behind him to concentrate on a new venture in the agriculture industry.

Mr Doddrell, who was fined $32,000 this week after pleading guilty to charges of failing to file the airline's 2000 accounts on time, is chief executive of South Auckland fertiliser company Nitrosol, in which he bought a share-holding in October last year.

Sources close to the bankrupt airline confirmed yesterday his fine and courts costs were covered by insurance. They said the cost of the lawyers handling Mr Doddrell and his fellow directors, Ken Cowley, Fred Watson, David Belcher, Trevor Farmer, David Skeggs and Rob Campbell, were also covered by insurance.

The sources said the cost of prosecution was not the reason the other directors had not been charged. They said the judgment stated clearly that the late reporting was the responsibility of the CFO and not any individual director. They are furious the Independent claimed they had been let off because of the high costs of prosecuting.

Meanwhile, Mr Doddrell is concentrating on his new venture, Nitrosol, which manufactures and distributes Nitrosol, an organically oriented liquid fertiliser derived from deepsea fish, and PhloLine, a sprayable rapid-action lime product for pastures. More than 30% of production is exported.

"This is a complete change for me and I am thoroughly enjoying it," Mr Doddrell said. "I enjoy dealing with our farmer customers all over New Zealand.

"Our soil and pastures are New Zealand's greatest resources and I feel we are contributing to their health and that of the animals and the economy - it is very satisfying."

Mr Doddrell was CEO of Ansett New Zealand from 1996 until the carrier was taken over by a group of businessmen under the Tasman Pacific banner and headed the company as Qantas New Zealand from 2000. The carrier collapsed with debts of about $135 million in April last year.

The Companies Office brought the failure to file charges under the Financial Reporting Act and dropped charges against Mr Doddrell's fellow directors.

Judge Fred McElrea said failure to prepare the accounts had not contributed to Qantas New Zealand's collapse.

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