Raffle offences alleged

Press, 9 May 1979, Page 4

Raffle offences alleged

A man who ran raffles for |f Christchurch sports and g social clubs used the money (to purchase racehorses, a J Mercedes car, and to supj (port another company and “to pay for additions 'to his n I bach, Sergeant J. J. Shannafjhan told Messrs M. B. Hayes 1 and J. D. Diggs, Justices of I the-Peace, during the taking j of depositions in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. J 1 Maiko Kaputone Pahi,l it aged 55, pleaded not guilty! s to. 43 charges relating to the] running of raffles in Christ-i church from August, 1974,; r to December. 1976. The> f charges comprised six J j charges of theft and 37 s charges of fraud. i. Evidence relating to the' drawing of raffles, thet a method of payment of raffle 1 g prizes, allegations in some i cases of non-payment of i prizes, evidence alleging ir- - regularities in .raffles proce- , dures, and any evidence, which was not directly re-' lated to cash transactions t j which were the subject of. - the specific informations, g was suppressed by the J.P.s. In seeking the suppression , order, counsel (Mr L. M. O'Reilly) said that reports of f the case would create coni siderable interest as many' people had contributed to the raffles run by Pahi. ! J Mr O’Reilly said that the' ri objection to some evidence (being published was that if J the case proceeded to the '.Supreme Court there would be strong opposition to -the j admissibility of some evi- (; dence by the defence. J Prospective jurors would ;( certainly be influenced by ’(the publication of some eviTdence, he said. . .; If the evidence requested . was not suppressed Pahi could not have a fair trial in Christchurch, Mr O’Reilly! 1 said. To organise the raffles Pahi had set up a company, New Zealand Fund Raising Promoters, in May, 1974, of which he had held 3000 of the 4000 $1 shares. The [company had a bank account [with the Commercial Bank: of Australia and all the pro-' (ceeds of the raffle tickets,! (less commission, had been] put in that account, Sergeant Shannahan said. Pahi had paid all expenses incurred, including prizes, from that account, and the. balance had gone to the organisations for which he had organised the raffles.

Sergeant Shannahan said that an analysis of the account showed that less than $ll,OOO had been banked between August, 1974, and November, 1976. An investigation of the bank account had showed that many cheques had been used for purposes other than the raffles, including the purchase of personal items by ,Pahi. , On a number of occasions (money meant for the raffle account had gone into another account'held by Pahi,l or to an “unknown destina-: tion,” Sergeant Shannahan said. Pahi had held two' other accounts "for his own purposes.” (Proceeding)