Tipoff sees Sir Ron Brierley charged
The investigation into former corporate raider Sir Ron Brierley, which led to him reportedly being charged on Tuesday with six counts of possessing child abuse material, was sparked by an anonymous tip-off.
Australian media are reporting Brierley was arrested and charged with possession of child exploitation images.
New South Wales police would not confirm that an 82-year-old man arrested at Sydney Airport was Brierley. But in a statement, the police said: ‘‘A man has been charged after allegedly being found in possession of child abuse material. In August, detectives ... commenced an investigation into the possession of child abuse material.
‘‘Following extensive inquiries, an 82-year-old man was stopped . . . at Sydney International Airport about 6.30am yesterday (Tuesday).
‘‘The man’s carry-on luggage was searched before the contents of his laptop and electronic storage devices were reviewed, which are alleged to have contained large amounts of child abuse material. The Point Piper man was taken to Mascot police station and charged with six counts of possessing child abuse material.’’
A police spokeswoman said the man would not be named before he appeared at Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, February 10. Australian media are, however, widely reporting that the man arrested is Brierley. Stuff is attempting to contact Brierley.
A police source familiar with the investigation told the Sydney Morning
Herald that officers began investigating the New Zealander in August after a tipoff from an anonymous member of the public. The Herald reported that police would allege in court that investigators found a ‘‘large amount of child abuse material’’ on the man’s laptop and electronic storage devices.
Brierley was knighted in New Zealand in 1988, and was known as a ‘‘corporate raider’’ for his business activities involving a series of takeovers and mergers in the 1980s.
Brierley lives in Point Piper, an exclusive Sydney suburb. Police also got a warrant to search his home.
Brierley was made a lifetime member of Wellington Cricket in 2000 and its patron. The Basin Reserve also boasted a pavilion, named after the businessman, which has since been demolished to make way for a children’s playground and terrace seating. Wellington Cricket general manager Liz Perry said the club would not comment at this stage.
Brierley is also patron of Auckland Cricket Development Foundation and his former high school, Wellington College, has named its arts block and football field after him. Auckland Cricket and Wellington College have been approached for comment.
Brierley launched into business while still at Wellington College in the early 1950s, operating The Kiwi Stamp Company during lunchtimes, a biography from the Wellington Gold Awards says. But his first real foray into investing came when he began publishing a sharemarket tip sheet, New
Zealand Stocks and Shares, ultimately leading him to form R A Brierley Investments in 1961. Twenty years later Brierley Investments was a top 20 company on the New Zealand stockmarket, and by 1984 was the most valuable company on the market.
At the peak of its popularity, more than 160,000 New Zealanders were shareholders in Brierley Investments.
‘‘One can confidently predict that the NZX will never experience another Brierley Investments,’’ fund manager Bryan Gaynor said in 2014.
‘‘There will never be another BIL because we now have a Takeovers Code and we don’t have a large number of companies with under-utilised and under-valued assets. We will probably never have another company ... that packs annual meetings with shareholders queuing for hours to have a few words with a revered chairman.’’
Brierley remained in active control of Brierley Investments until 1990 but continued as chairman of Guinness Peat Group, which was renamed Coats in 2015, which announced in 2016 that it would delist from the NZX.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: ‘‘It would not be appropriate for the prime minister to comment on the possible forfeiture of honours at this stage.’’
Knighthoods can be stripped from people who are found to have done something to damage the honours system’s reputation.