A Hokitika account who has admitted an $800,000 fraud has been granted bail at a hearing in the Christchurch District Court after more than a year on remand.
Lindsay Beckett Smith, 59, pleaded guilty at the Greymouth District Court last year to seven charges of using a document to gain a monetary advantage, two charges of causing loss by deception, and one representative charge of using forged lending documents.
Smith has been held in custody while arrangements are made for a forfeiture hearing relating to his family home and his sentencing.
A video-link session between Greymouth and Christchurch today, with Judge Raoul Neave conducting the hearing in Christchurch, was told that Smith had now been held in custody for a year and three weeks.
He was granted bail on condition that he surrender his passport, live at a specified address in Hokitika, not contact the complainants, and report once a week to the Hokitika Police Station.
The case has now been remanded for hearing in Christchurch on November 28, when the forfeiture hearing and possibly the sentencing will take place. Smith will appear by video-link from Greymouth.
Crown prosecutor Karyn South said the Crown did not now oppose Smith’s release on bail.
Smith admitted the fraud relating to $800,000 put up by a Blenheim couple – old friends of his – which was lost in dealings with Smith over a planned subdivision in Hokitika.
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