19 Feb 2016

SCF boss to recoup legal fees

5:48 pm on 19 February 2016

One of those at the centre of the country's biggest ever fraud trial has been awarded $240,000 in costs.

From left: Edward Sullivan, Robert White and Lachie McLeod.

From left: Edward Sullivan, Robert White and Lachie McLeod. Photo: Mytchall Bransgrove

South Canterbury Finance's former chief executive, Lachie McLeod, and former director Robert White, were found not guilty in 2014 of all charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

They related to transactions worth $1.7 billion.

Lachie McLeod

Lachie McLeod Photo: RNZ / Nicola Grigg

Fellow director Edward Sullivan was found guilty of five of the nine charges.

Justice Heath today delivered a ruling that Mr McLeod should be awarded costs relating to the five-month trial.

Although the actions of the defendants were commercially unacceptable, the standard of the investigation carried out by the SFO fell well below what the community should expect, he said in his judgement.

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