Roading contracts corrupt, Crown says
Auckland roading contracts were awarded under a culture of bribery and corruption for eight years, the High Court in Auckland has heard.
Stephen James Borlase and Murray John Noone are standing trial facing bribery and corruption charges over Auckland roading contracts worth more than $1 million. They pleaded not guilty last year to charges brought against them by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Borlase, a former director of Projenz which undertook contract work for Auckland Transport (AT), faces eight charges of corruption or bribery of an official and four charges of obtaining a document for pecuniary advantage. Noone, a former director of transportation at the Rodney District Council (RDC) and later an AT employee, faces six charges of corruption or bribery of an official.
A third man, Barrie Kenneth James George was sentenced earlier this month to 10 months home detention for two charges of accepting bribes. George had worked for AT, RDC and its predecessor organisations since 1974, but his career ended in 2013 when he admitted to AT bosses that he had accepted gratuities worth more than $100,000 over the past eight years.
The alleged offending is alleged to have taken place between 2005 and 2013 relating to roading project consultation contracts Projenz carried out for RDC and AT.
Auckland Crown solicitor Brian Dickey said Noone and George were overseeing, authorising, managing and receiving benefits in relation to contracts Projenz had with the organisations. Dickey said Noone received payments from Projenz of about $1.1m and gratuities of $83,000 during the alleged offending period.
Dickey said corruption arose from a pre-existing relationship between the two. The cost of Projenz’s bribes were offset against the revenue generated from the organisations, he said. It was also providing ‘‘inflated’’ invoices to RDC and AT of about $300,000 to recoup the costs of the bribes. ’’In effect ... RDC was paying the bribes of its own officials,’’ Dickey said.
A culture tolerant of corruption and the acceptance of gratuities developed within the councils’ roading maintenance divisions as a result of the relationships, he said.