26 Mar 2014

Trial date set for former chief executive

11:16 am on 26 March 2014

A former wine executive accused by the Serious Fraud Office of receiving secret rewards will face trial in November.

New Zealand Wine Company former chief executive Peter John Scutts, 58, appeared at the High Court in Auckland on Wednesday on 16 charges of dishonestly using a document and one Secret Commissions Act charge of receiving a secret reward for procuring contracts.

Justice Brewer set the trial down for 10 days in November and remanded him on bail.

The Serious Fraud Office says that in 2011 the accused carried out transactions from which he got about $64,000 in fees that the board of the company knew nothing about.