Rakiura owner on Stewart Is.

Press, 25 February 1986, Page 1

Rakiura owner on Stewart Is.

The principal owner of Rakiura Holdings, Ltd, the firm which defaulted on a payment of $lOO million of Government stock, is living on Stewart Island, it was confirmed last evening.

Brian Stanley Alexander left Wellington after the. company defaulted on the payment. Attempts to reach him for comment about his company’s action have so far been unsuccessful.

It had been suggested that Mr Alexander had gone to Australia. The Attorney-General, on behalf of the Minister of Finance, is suing for $B.B million after the default

The Stewart Island policeman, Constable Mike Te Au, said last evening that Mr Alexander was on the island. Constable Te Au said that he had not seen Mr Alexander, but had been given information that he was definitely on the island.

Mr Alexander cannot be reached by telephone. According to Constable Te Au, Mr Alexander had caused no problems and

was not sought by the police in relation to any criminal matters. Island residents had been bombarded with calls from the news media keen to find Mr Alexander, he said. The Reserve Bank was neither aware nor interested in the reappearance in New Zealand of Mr Alexander. When told that Mr Alexander had been seen on Stewart Island, a spokesman for the bank, Mr Bruce Rampton, said earlier this week: “We won’t be doing anything about it, I shouldn’t think.”

He said any legal matters were in the hands of the Solicitor-General and any papers that had been served had been served on the company rather than the principal owner. The deputy SolicitorGeneral, Mr Craig Thompson, was also unaware of Mr Alexander’s return to the country, but confirmed his office was not interested in taking action against Mr Alexander personally. He did not rule out that this may happen in the future.