Director ‘had heart attack’

Press, 21 October 1987, Page 26

Director ‘had heart attack’

A Christchurch company director, Kevin Francis Meates, had a heart attack during an argument over a Hong Kong business deal, Judge Noble was told in the District Court yesterday. Meates, a former All Black, is before the Court on five charges of breaching the Customs and Sales Tax acts. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He has been charged that he conspired with persons in Hong Kong to import toy components which were declared on false documentation, and that as a director of Julius Harper, Ltd, he consented to the production to Customs of false documents in which the goods were undervalued. A third charge alleges he evaded duty by consenting to production of false invoices in which the goods were undervalued. Alternative charges under the Sales Tax Act allege he conspired to import goods on false documentation, and that being a director of the firm, he declared the imports on false documentation and evaded sales tax of $36,207. Mr David Saunders appears for the Customs Department, and Mr Barrie Atkinson, QC, appears for Meates.

The production manager of the Hong Kong company Petrine, Ltd, Mr Stephen Choi, told of dealings with Meates as arrangements were made to produce almost 200,000 McDonalds “Burger Buggy” toys and send them to New Zealand for sale through the hamburger restaurant chain. Mr Choi produced a long series of telex exchanges between Meates’s Christchurch company and the Hong Kong firm. He said it was the only time the toy cars had been sent disassembled, and Meates had requested that they be sent in three separate shipments to different companies in Auckland and Wellington.

He had been uncomfortable because his company had to wait for al-

most a month to receive payment for the order, through a letter of credit. Discrepancies occurred in a shipping document and he became angry about criticism from Meates. He considered the difficulties had been caused by Julius Harper, Ltd.

He told of receiving from the New Zealand company a request to make up invoices according to figures supplied by Julius Harper, Ltd. This was. after his own company had been paid.

He believed this must have been necessary because his company was inexperienced in dealing with New Zealand customs procedures. “We were very confused and irritated about the whole thing,” he said. “We wanted to get rid of the whole thing. We wanted to co-operate and keep Julius Harper happy in doing all these documents.”

After the shipment went to New Zealand, Meates came to his office in Hong Kong, complained that the consignment had been short and wanted Petrine to pay the freight charges. Mr Choi refused, and

asked about payment for 200,000 polybags Meates had ordered.

“We started to be very angry. That is why Mr Meates had a heart attack. He became very painful and said he wanted to see a doctor,” Mr Choi said. He took Meates to a doctor’s surgery, where Meates said he would carry on by himself. Mr Atkinson suggested, to him that discrepancies arose from a mistake in a document supplied from Hong Kong, in which a gearbox component for the cars was valued at 3.3 cents U.S. instead of 13.3 cents.

The president of the Harry Panzer International Corporation, Mr Harry Panzer, said the price of the cars had been reduced for the New Zealand order, because they were wanted disassembled, and unpacked.

The normal price was 31 cents U.S. each, but for the New Zealand order this was 29.5 cents. The difference was the packaging cost

* He said Meates asked him to have bags printed for the “Burger Buggies,” and his office made the mistake of going ahead without a letter of credit. The bags were still being held in Hong Kong because Meates had never paid for them. When he later met Meates in New York, he raised the matter of the bags. “He said to me with a devil-may-care attitude he would send me a cheque when he got back to New Zealand. He still hasn’t paid for them,” Mr Panzer said.

He said there had been no "rip-roaring argument” at this meeting as Meates asserted in a statement to investigators. He also said his Hong Kong company, Petrine, had never been sued by Meates. Cross-examined by Mr Atkinson, Mr Panzer said he resented the allegation that his company, Petrine, had conspired with Julius Harper, Ltd, to issue false invoices.

Mr Atkinson: It is not

my word. It is the word used in the information that brings my client before the court. You can resent it if you like. Did you not know there had been a conspiracy between Julius Harper and your company to falsify the invoices and defraud the revenue of the Customs of New Zealand? — I did not know. Mr Panzer said he understood that sending the toy cars disassembled reduced the amount of duty for Meates. He did not know whether the arrangement was made because of the availability of import licences. The company shipped the items as requested by Meates.

He was questioned in detail about the cost breakdown of the toy components, but he said the company did not supply parts, only finished products and part prices were not available. The New Zealand order was for finished toys, disassembled.

Mr Panzer agreed with an estimate that the toy’s gearbox would cost about 14 cents U.S. each.

The hearing continues today.