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Former Rodney District Council senior roading manager Murray Noone was this morning sentenced to five years imprisonment on bribery and corruption charges. Stephen Borlase was sentenced to five years and six months in relation to similar charges.
In December last year Mr Noone was found guilty on all six charges relating to receiving $1.1 million in bribes and a further $84,000 in benefits.
Projenz director Stephen Borlase was found guilty of bribery and also of providing $125,000 in benefits and gratuities to former RDC and AT transport manager Barrie George. Mr George pleaded guilty to bribery charges in August last year and is serving a 10-month home detention sentence.
In passing sentence at Auckland High Court today, Judge Sally Fitzgerald said she had taken into account the harm to the community as well as the duration and scale of the offending.
She said these were far from victimless crimes. The offending had a direct and real impact on Auckland Transport and its employees. There had been significant legal and forensic accounting costs, time and stress on employees, and a very negative effect on employee morale.
The judge also referred to the wider impact on the community and said it would tarnish New Zealand’s reputation as a place where public corruption was almost non-existent.
She said the offending had seriously undermined the public’s trust in public officials.
