Three more men have been found guilty on a total of 18 charges for their part in defrauding Dunedin-based vehicle finance company, Motor Trade Finances Ltd.
The latest convictions bring to an end the long-running case - in which the Serious Fraud Office laid 110 fraud charges against seven men- after loans totalling $4.9 million were obtained from the Auckland branch of Motor Trade Finance (MTF) in a deception first uncovered in late 2010.
SFO acting chief executive Simon McArley said yesterday's guilty verdicts had brought the investigation to an end.
''Unfortunately, the actions of this group of individuals caused significant loss to MTF to its detriment,'' Mr McArley said in a statement.
At the centre of the fraud was Mark Whelan, a retailer dealer for MTF, who then became a franchisee in January 2008. Loans he wrote began defaulting early in 2009, then auditing practices found discrepancies and the SFO began its investigation in September 2010.
Whelan pleaded guilty to 66 charges of fraud by deception.
Mr McArley said as franchisee of the company, Whelan, along with his associates, had signed contracts which falsely represented that the loans from MTF were secured against specific assets, which MTF could not locate for repossession.
The trial, which began on March 7 before Judge Wilson, heard Jonathon Earl Chiswell (37) obtained loans for about $671,000, Brett Royce Donaldson (51) for $576,000 and Richard Michael Barnett (42) for $234,000.
Chiswell faced six charges of obtaining by deception and was found guilty on all charges. Donaldson faced seven charges of obtaining by deception and was also found guilty on all charges. Barnett faced 16 charges of obtaining by deception and was found guilty on five of those charges.
The defendants have been remanded on bail and will be sentenced on May 16.
Three others, who faced joint charges under the Crimes Act for their roles in
Whelan's scheme, had all pleaded guilty before the trial.
