Chch man struck off register

Press, 23 January 1984, Page 2

Chch man struck off register

William Murray Robertson of Christchurch, has been struck off the registrar of the New Zealand Society of Accountants — almost two years after he appeared in the High Court in Christchurch.

The society’s disciplinary committee has found Mr Robertson guilty of charges of grave impropriety in a professional respect, guilty of acts and defaults discreditable to an accountant, and guilty of having “conducted himself in such a manner as to render the exercise of the powers of the disciplinary committee expedient in the interests of the public and of the society.”

The committee said that the charges related to Mr Robertson using company funds to pay private debts, appropriating company funds for his own use, and without authority, overdrawing his salary and permitting his wife to overdraw her salary.

It ordered that Mr Robertson’s name be struck from the Registrar of Accountants, and that he should not be allowed to apply for re-registration for 10 years.

Mr Robertson was also required by the disciplinary committee to pay costs of $3500.

Mr Robertson is a former secretary of the Home

Loans group of companies.

In March, 1982, he was ordered by the High Court in Christchurch to repay $31,113 plus interest for money he had allegedly obtained without authority or fraudulently. The claims were brought by the liquidators of the Cumulative Finance Company, Ltd, a subsidiary of the Home Loans Group. The hearing lasted five days.

One of the writs sought from Mr Robertson an overdrawn salary of $9231, and damages for the unauthorised payment of $1949 to his wife, who was employed as a secretary-typist.