Case dismissed no misuse of $10k grant

Two charges against Napier businessman Rodney Green have been dismissed after a district court judge ruled he has no case to answer.

During a hearing at the Napier District Court this week, Green was accused of misusing more than $10,000 of gaming machine funds to source 130 new chairs for the Bluewater Hotel restaurant he owns.

Green's defence team submitted an application that there was no case for him to answer which was accepted by the judge yesterday and charges of obtaining by deception and using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage were dismissed.

In the business deal at the centre of the issue, a second organisation, which has name suppression, was to buy some second-hand chairs from Mr Green. These were valued at the same price as a set of new chairs he had organised to purchase from Big Save Furniture for his restaurant.

The Big Save Furniture invoice for the new chairs was made out to the second organisation despite those chairs being intended for the restaurant. This organisation paid directly to Big Save Furniture using a grant from the Infinity Foundation.

Mr Green's defence said there had been no financial gain, and the invoice was made out to the club only as a matter of convenience.

Evidence given on Monday by the organisation's manager also showed Mr Green was told the club was paying for the chairs with a grant after they had organised a sale and the organisation had applied for the grant.

His defence lawyer, Tony Snell, said yesterday they were pleased with the outcome and relieved the matter was over, and Mr Green had remained open and co-operative throughout the entire process. He did not wish to comment.