Former manager gets jail term for dishonesty

Press, 18 December 1989, Page 5

Former manager gets jail term for dishonesty

PA Hamilton Former company manager of Dairy Containers, Ltd, Anthony Bruce Watson, has been sentenced to years jail on dishonesty charges involving more than $400,000. Watson, aged 46, was sentenced by Judge Victor Jamieson in the Hamilton District Court after pleading guilty to three charges of theft as a servant and one of false accounting and being found guilty on a further charge of false accounting. Judge Jamieson said that if reparation had not been paid in full he would have considered declining jurisdiction and sending Watson to the High Court where a longer jail term could be imposed. The charges arose from extensive investigations by the police into the Hamilton-based company which is a subsidiary of the Dairy Board. Two other former executives have appeared in court but their cases are yet to be fully heard. During the defended

hearing the Court was told that D.C.L. was responsible for producing cans. There had been problems with machinery and a company called Te Rapa Engineering Ltd was vital to continuing production by assisting with making and repairing machinery. In March, 1984, Watson and two associates were told that Te Rapa Engineering was in receivership and machinery was to be sold within hours. A D.C.L. cheque for $114,000 was given to the receiver for the machinery and Te Rapa Engineering continued to function for several we.eks. Watson had not received permission from the Dairy Board to pay this money and the payment was concealed by false records of repairs and maintenance. Later Te Rapa Engineering became defunct and Te Rapa Precision Engineering was formed with Watson and others as unpaid shareholders. The Court was told Wat-

son and another man had discussed selling their shares. Watson said the whole purpose was to keep D.C.L. running. If the machinery stopped it would cost thousands of dollars in lost output. Dairy Board directors were not told of the deal because “they would not have realised the seriousness of the situation,” Watson said. Precision Engineering was formed only to protect the interests of D.C.L., he said. Judge Jamieson said that in his view the thefts were motivated solely by greed. The offences began with the false accounting in March, 1984, and continued over a period of years until the police uncovered the operations. The thefts involved a total of $376,965.16 and, with Watson’s share of the Te Rapa Engineering deal, the total was nearly $500,000, Judge Jamieson said.