The
Court of Appeal upheld a conviction for false accounting against tour operator
Wook Hyung Han in respect of tour billings in excess of $600,000.
After serving sentences of six months
home detention and 150 hours community work for defrauding General Travel New Zealand
Ltd, Han appealed his conviction. He
said it was not suppported by sufficent evidence. In a joint venture with General Travel, Han
was responsible for selling to Korean outbound tour operators package tours to
New Zealand. Known colloquially as
“shopping tours”, packages are sometimes sold at a reduced margin to Korean
operators with the intent a profit margin be extracted by way of commissions
from New Zealand retail stores. The
agreed deal between General Travel and Han was that Korean tour operators were
to be charged full price, the Court was told.
General Travel said too many companies had lost money relying on
shopping commissions for their profit.
Despite this agreement, Han sold New Zealand tours to Korean operators at
a discount while booking the deal to General Travel at the fully costed price. Han intended to make up the difference and
more with shopping commissions and tour fees, but over time did not recoup what
General Travel was owed.
Han said he was not guilty of false
accounting. The travel invoices passed
into General Travel’s accounting system correctly recorded the full price as
required by their joint venture agreement.
The Court of Appeal said the travel invoices were false; they recorded a
different dollar amount to that being charged Korean tour operators, obscuring
the level of risk General Travel was carrying on each tour.
Han
v. R – Court of Appeal (12.08.16)
16.128