Reward for information on illegal payout
A $5000 reward is being offered for information about the $3.41 million payment made to families of the Pike River mine tragedy that was ruled to be unlawful by the Supreme Court.
Former criminal barrister Christopher Harder is asking the public for information about where the $3.41m came from.
After 29 men were killed in the West Coast mine in 2010, WorkSafe laid 12 charges against the mine’s boss, Peter Whittall, but dropped the case after the payment was made.
Harder said he received anonymous information last week that it did not come from Whittall’s insurer, as was reported at the time. The Supreme Court ruled in 2017 the deal was unlawful because it prevented a prosecution.
Harder made a complaint to the New Zealand Law Society in 2020 about the two lawyers involved with the deal: Stuart Grieve, QC, who was Whittall’s lawyer, and Brent Stanaway, who was a Crown solicitor at the time.
The Law Society’s standards committee investigated and took no further action because it found no conduct concerns.
Harder alleged the two lawyers brought the legal profession into disrepute by entering into the unlawful agreement and deliberately misleading the judge involved, Judge Jane Farish, by not giving her all the information.
The Supreme Court decision said Judge Farish did not have all the information when she said the payment was not connected to WorkSafe’s decision to offer no evidence. The payment was made on the condition the charges were dropped and therefore the arrangement was unlawful and aimed at stifling a prosecution.
Harder has asked the minister for justice to launch a commission of inquiry into the Law Society’s decision.
Harder has the support of Bernie Monk and Dean Dunbar, who lost their sons in the disaster, and together they have unsuccessfully tried to get information from WorkSafe under the Official Information Act. They have laid a complaint with the Ombudsman.
Harder said they had seen an email from Grieve to Stanaway that said: ‘‘We have amended your draft to accurately reflect payment will now be made into court and to delete reference to the insurer which we consider neither necessary or appropriate.’’
Grieve said the allegation he misled Judge Farish was rejected by the Law Society’s investigation.