The raft of suppression orders issued by the courts have continued on and this case is no exception.
The suppression order prohibits any publication of the details surrounding Versalko’s methodology on how he was able to take nearly $18m from trusting bank clients over a 9 year period and remain undetected. According to reports his fraud was identified in the end purely by fluke!
Prior to this he had purchased a Remuera property for $3.2m and purchased a property on the Coromandel for $1.8m. We are told that these properties have been sold.
Versalko has been remanded in custody and prior to this the family relocated from the Remuera property to the North Shore. A property that is not too much of a let down from the Remuera home. It is apparently just a couple of streets away from Takapuna beach and would be out of the reach for most working class families!
We are prevented again by suppression orders in naming Versalko’s wife or occupation.
Judge Mark Perkins also suppressed the occupation of Versalko’s wife after Mr Stuart Grieve QC described her as a victim and the family’s “sole breadwinner”.
These suppression orders are big calls and in my opinion run the risk of suppressing the rights of the public to contribute to the facts of what is happening. As it stands now the current family arrangements are somewhat confusing for the people who have followed this case and have been impacted by this fraud.
I still believe the major questions are more to do with how this fraud went undetected for so many years. The ASB needs to explain this just as soon as the pesky suppression orders are lifted.
See my earlier story regarding questions for the ASB Bank here.
Freedom of speech? Apparently not something currently on offer in New Zealand!
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