City councillor discharged

Press, 10 November 1986, Page 7

City councillor discharged

PA Auckland A Manukau City councillor charged with fraud had his case dismissed by the District Court at Auckland. Murray Ralph McDowell, aged 41, of Manurewa, pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.

His name and connection with the council had been suppressed in the interim.

The fraud charge related to June, 1984, when McDowell was supervisor of Te Roopumahi Trust in Mangere.

The Crown prosecutor, Miss Kim Hastie, alleged that McDowell billed the Labour Department for goods given to the trust and used the money for his own advantage.

Miss Hastie told the Court it was McDowell’s job to buy materials for the trust’s work skills programmes. Costs were later reimbursed by the Labour Department. Metal rods worth $l3OO were given to the trust’s horticultural programme, but McDowell claimed money for them from the department. At the opening of the trial’s second day, Judge Mitchell said there had been discussion in cham-

bers after the first day’s hearing and he had decided that McDowell should be discharged. The Judge said there was some evidence to suggest that McDowell might have refunded money he claimed from the department. There was also a discrepancy over whether McDowell “intended” to defraud.

There was no evidence to suggest that McDowell wanted the money for himself, the Judge said.

“There is evidence to suggest there were problems getting money quickly for the trust.” “There may have been temptations to anticipate matters and put in money claims before they were due.”

Although the accounting system did not go “by the book” there was no evidence to suggest McDowell wanted the money for himself, the Judge said.