My Account
by George Driver
A former Rodney District Council and Auckland Transport employee has escaped a prison sentence after admitting he accepted over $100,000 in bribes.
Barrie Kenneth James George, 69, was sentenced to 10 months home detention at the Auckland High Court on September 1, after pleading guilty to two representative charges of corruption and bribery of an official.
Mr George started working for Rodney District Council in 1974 and became transport operations manager in 1975 and infrastructure manager of transport in 2007. He became northern maintenance manager at Auckland Transport (AT) in 2010.
The offending relates to million-dollar roading and infrastructure contracts between 2006 and 2012.
At the sentencing, Justice Graham Lang said Mr George was facing a three-year nine-month prison sentence, but that was reduced due to mitigating circumstances, including that he was the whistleblower in regard to more serious fraud within the organisation.
Justice Lang said a culture developed in both Rodney District Council and AT between 2005 and 2012, where staff were encouraged to work cooperatively with roading and infrastructure contractors.
“A culture developed within the organisations in which employees were encouraged to fraternise with the staff of the contractors. This led to you regularly attending social events with members of their staff,” he said.
The offending began at a work function in 2006 when a roading contractor gave Mr George a travel voucher that enabled him to travel to Thailand.
“The end result was that Mr George received gifts having a total value of $103,580. The gifts took the form of travel vouchers, entertainment and liquor.”
Mr George received $57,293 in gratuities while he was an employee of Rodney District Council, with the balance received while he was at AT.
But, in 2012 Mr George raised concerns with AT about an “unsatisfactory ethical situation developing”.
“At that stage you did not directly indicate that you had received gifts yourself. Nevertheless, an internal investigation followed and you cooperated fully in that … During this investigation, you frankly acknowledged the fact that you had received the gifts,” Justice Lang said.
Justice Lang said there was “no suggestion” that ratepayers suffered a direct loss as a result of invoices being inflated or work not being undertaken as claimed.
However, he said the offending had numerous consequences. Ratepayers expected public spending to be rigorously scrutinised and accepting payments or gifts created the perception that those contractors would be treated preferentially.
“In a case such as this, the perception may arise that this type of practice is acceptable. That is particularly concerning in a situation where Auckland is developing rapidly and its infrastructure will no doubt be increasing rapidly in the near future. An ethos or culture cannot be allowed to exist where contractors are permitted to believe that by placing gifts in the hands of Council employees they will in some way be viewed favourably.”
Mr George’s lawyer, Robert Hollyman, said Mr George was the first person to raise concerns about corruption at AT and he fully cooperated with subsequent investigations. “He did the right thing. Others knew what he knew, but he took it to the authorities and blew the whistle.”
Mr Hollyman said Mr George was legal guardian of two of his grandchildren and would not be able to fulfill that responsibility if sent to prison.
Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey said it accepted there were a number of mitigating factors, but that the offending had the potential to damage New Zealand’s image as a corruption-free country and must be treated seriously.
Justice Lang said the sentence needed to bear in mind that the Crown didn’t want to deter future whistleblowers, but that the offending was over a long time while Mr George was in a trusted position of seniority and involved a considerable sum.
He took 11 months off the sentence for cooperation with the corruption investigation, deducted seven months based on an early guilty plea, and a further six months due to Mr George’s age and ‘good character’.
As the proposed sentence was less than two years, Mr George was eligible for home detention and was sentenced to two 10-month sentences, to be served concurrently.
Mr Dickey said he believed home detention was appropriate.
Co-defendants Stephen James Borlase and Murray John Noone are due to stand trial next week, on September 19.
Mr Noone was Mr George’s former boss and is facing six charges related to bribes totalling over $1 million.
Mr Borlase, who was director of contracting company Projenz, faces eight charges of corruption and four charges of obtaining a document for pecuniary advantage.
