Engineer On Trial On Corruption Charges

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29353, 4 November 1960, Page 7

Engineer On Trial On Corruption Charges

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Nov. 3. The Crown case against John Langdon Wotten. aged 56. a former Ministry of Works engineer, charged with five breaches of the Secret Commissions Act, concluded in the Supreme Court at Wellington today. The hearing of the defence case will begin tomorrow. It Is alleged that Wotten, as an agent of the Ministry of’ Works, corruptly accepted gifts of money totalling £5BO 10s fid and building materials valued at £5O 18s lid from Frederick Ernest Bognuda as an inducement or reward for showing favour to the ■ firms of F. and J. Bognuda, Ltd., Bognuda; Adams and Blyth Sand and Gravel Supplies, Ltd., and the Dry Creek Quarrying Company, Ltd. Mr W. R. Birks appeared for the (Jlrown, and Mr P. J. Treadwell, with him Mr P. K. Bryan, for the. accused. The Chief Justice (Sir Harold Barrowclough) presided. Mr Birks said that the accused in 1949 commenced duties at Porirua as a senior engineer in the Ministry of Works. In 1953 his designation was changed to that of resident engineer, and from 1955 till recently he was Ministry of Works highways engineer in the Wellington district. Bank Account A recent examination of the accused’s bank account revealed lodgements of from £l5 to £lOB in excess of his salary during the period of five years. When interviewed the accused said he received payments _ from Bognuda between 1950 and 1955 in appreciation of what he had done for him while Bognuda was contracting with the Ministry of Works He added that Bognuda had never asked him to do anything. Wootten said he started to build a house at Tawa and ordered builder’s mix from Bognuda’s firm. He asked for the account, but Bognuda did not send one.

Detective-Sergeant A. W. Baker said that Wotten, when interviewed on August 26, was told an inspection revealed that £lO5l was deposited in his bank account between 1950 and 1958 and that he received building materials for which there was no indication of payment. Wotten said he started to building supplies and also that between 1950 and 1955 he received £2OO from Frederick Bognuda. He said the money was usually paid at his office at Porirua and never exceeded £3O at a time. The payments, made every three months, were for seeing the Bognuda companies got a fair share of the work that was offering. Interviewed on August 29 and told the police could not reconcile the £2OO with amounts in

his bank account and that inquiries showed the amount received would be £5BO. Wotten replied: “That is right, but 1 didn’t think it would be as much as that.” Cross-examination To Mr Treadwell, the witness said that the figure of £5BO was put to the accused as “the balance of payments in his account, the source of which was not known.” Mr Treadwell: He didn’t really have much of an opportunity to go back 10 years in his mind in order, to identify every penny that went into his bank? The witness: In my view he had ample opportunity. Francis Andrew Foster, assistant district administrative officer. Ministry of Works, Wellington, said that, according to a Ministry of Works schedule, metal valued at £16.999 was supplied by Bognuda. Adams and Blyth Sand and Gravel Supplies from' February. 1953. to October. 1955. From March, 1953, till June. 1955, metal of a total value of £26,304 was purchased from the Dry Creek Quarrying Company, Ltd. On November 6, 1953, F. and J. Bognuda, Ltd., was awarded a £24,708 construction contract for work on the Porirua section of the Johnsonville-Porirua motorway. With the extra work, the total amount paid for the contract was £46,181. To Mr Treadwell, the witness said he believed six other metal suppliers had been paid an aggregate of £36,000 by the Ministry of Works about the time of the Bognuda contract.