Following the better part of a year in court, the case against New Zealand’s Hawke's Bay Seafoods, its directors, and its business associates may finally be coming to a close, as Wellington District Court Judge Bill Hastings considers what fines to levy against the cohort for illegally selling misreported bluenose.
Companies Hawke's Bay Seafoods, Ocean Enterprises, and Esplanade No. 3 were tried in the case alongside Hawke’s Bay’s family of leading executives – Antonino, Giancarlo and Marcus D'Esposito – and four skippers. The defendants initially faced 355 total charges levied against them by the Ministry for Primary Industries for allegedly falsifying sales of bluenose and other related offenses from October 2012 and July 2014.
After seven months and halfway through the trial, guilty pleas related to 122 of the total charges were handed over by many of the defendants. Hawke's Bay Seafoods was convicted of 15 charges, with the D'Esposito trio pleading guilty to 85 separate charges. Meanwhile, Ocean Enterprises was convicted on eight charges and Esplanade No. 3 on 22.
Currently, New Zealand Crown prosecutors and lawyers for Hawke's Bay Seafoods are hashing out with Judge Hastings how much to fine each of the offending parties, according to news media outlet Stuff. Ministry for Primary Industries lawyer Stephanie Bishop posed a potential fine range of NZD 1.5 million (USD 1 million, EUR 871,000), warranted by the high degree of commercialism in the case, she said.
"It was commercial scale misreporting," Bishop said, according to Stuff. Altogether, 27 metric tons of unreported fish was sold by the offending parties, the Crown lawyer noted.
The dishonesty practiced by the defendants put the integrity of the nation’s quota management system on the line, she added.
"It was an abuse of trust of the fishery. The integrity of the quota management system depended on their honesty, to ensure its sustainability," Bishop said.
The defence lobbied Judge Hastings for a lesser fine of around NZD 600,000 (USD 404,125, EUR 348,630). Lawyer Mike Sullivan, who represents the companies and Nino D'Esposito, said the ministry’s fine and desired end-point for the case “was reserved for serious ongoing deliberate conspiratorial offending for the specific purpose of pecuniary gain,” Stuff reported.
Sullivan also argued that his clients pleading guilty saved significant judicial time and taxpayer resources and, as such, a full discount on 25 percent was more appropriate. He said the defendants accept and regret that their decisions had impacted the integrity of the nation’s management systems, and that Hawke’s Bay’s recent rapid expansion left the family-owned business scrambling to cope.
The sentencing proceedings before Judge Hastings are expected to take several days, Stuff reported on Monday, 6 August.
