Director to pay out $83k
The director of ACK Contractors Ltd has been sentenced to nine months’ home detention, and must pay reparation of $83,564, for falsifying records and dishonestly incurring debts.
Christchurch District Court heard that Colin Fitzgibbon’s company entered into an invoice purchasing contract in 2018 with Canterbury Invoice Finance Ltd, trading as FIFO Capital.
At the start of 2020, ACK Contractors held a contract to undertake work for the Christchurch Northern Corridor (CNC) Alliance.
This involved the construction of a new four-lane motorway from south of the Waimakariri River, connecting to Queen Elizabeth II Drive and Cranford Street in Christchurch.
Also in early 2020, ACK was sub-contracted to HEB Construction Ltd, undertaking road maintenance for the city council.
Between January and March 2020, Fitzgibbon provided fraudulent invoices valued at $668,393 to FIFO Capital. As a result, ACK was advanced $535,665.
On April 28, 2020, receivers were appointed for ACK. Invoicing issues were later detected when the receivers sought to recover purported debts from the CNC Alliance and HEB. At this time, both companies advised the receivers the invoices were fraudulent and no monies were owed to ACK.
Vanessa Cook, MBIE’s national manager of criminal proceeds integrity, says this was moderately sophisticated offending whereby Fitzgibbon generated invoices based on forecasted data for the month ahead.
“He sold invoices to FIFO Capital so his company could get cash faster than it would have received if it had waited for monthly payments made by the client companies,” she adds.
“The offending was pre-meditated. While Fitzgibbon intended to complete the work, he was aware there was a risk of causing loss.”
At sentencing on October 31, Judge GM Lynch considered Fitzgibbon’s remorse and preparedness to participate in restorative justice, his previous good character, steps taken to ensure reparation was paid including selling his family home, his co-operation during the investigation and early plea.
Investigating complaints
The criminal proceeds integrity and enforcement team (CPIE) is a business unit of MBIE. It investigates complaints on behalf of the Registrar of Companies and the Official Assignee of New Zealand.
When appropriate, it can prosecute individuals who breach the Companies and or Insolvency Acts. The CPIE also prepares submissions seeking the banning of individuals eligible for prohibition under section 385 of the Companies Act.
Click here for details of MBIE’s compliance and enforcement guidelines. Complaints about breaches of the Companies Act can be raised by completing an online form.
