Bella Vista director request ‘a crock’

A former employee of failed Bella Vista Homes called a request by director Danny Cancian to label another builder as the licensed building practitioner for the site, ‘‘a crock’’.

Builder Christopher Tkaczyk told the Tauranga District Court he asked who was the LBP for the development when he was hired, as he did not have that qualification.

‘‘I did not have one [an LBP cert] and I raised that with him,’’ he said. ‘‘He [Danny] said the LBP was himself,’’ he said. Tkaczyk gave evidence during the trial of Bella Vista Homes Limited, its former director Danny John Cancian, The Engineer Limited, Bruce Cameron and Darrell Joseph, who face a collective 28 charges under the Building Act. Tkaczyk said his work was supervised by another builder, Lee Corner, and Cancian at the end of most work days. After he left Bella

Vista’s employ he received a message from Cancian asking him to provide a statement saying Corner was the LBP .

‘‘Just touching base. When you worked on-site as a builder who supervised you?’’ the message read.

‘‘Lee Corner, who was the LBP is trying to say I was the supervisor. Could I get a statement saying Lee Corner was the supervisor on the Boulevard Homes?’’

Tkaczyk said he did not reply to the message as it was ‘‘a crock’’.

‘‘To my knowledge, Lee was a supervisor but to my knowledge, he was not the LPB,’’ he said.

When asked what he meant when he said ‘‘crock’’ he replied, ‘‘That he [Cancian] was trying to put Corner in the firing line.’’

Cancian’s lawyer crossexamined and asked if it was in fact Corner who supervised the work. Tkaczyk said both Corner and Cancian did.