Charles Warwick Reid

At his 1990 sentencing in Hong Kong, Charles Warwick Reid was ordered to pay HK $12.4 million (the value of his unexplainable assets). However, the funds in his Singaporean bank account had disappeared, and Mr. Reid never paid the fine. The Attorney General of Hong Kong pursued a civil case on behalf of the Crown in New Zealand to seize the three properties Mr. Reid owned in New Zealand. In 1993, the Privy Council in London held that the properties were held in constructive trust for the Crown. (Source: Attorney General for Hong Kong v. Reid, 1993 UKPC 2 [November 1, 1993])

A week after his release from Hong Kong and return to New Zealand, however, he was re-arrested on another bribery charge and again forced to forfeit properties that represented the proceeds of his corrupt activities. The High Court of Auckland ordered the seizure of Mr. Reid's assets, which included his family home in Tauranga, the Bay BodyFit Gymnasium, and his family trust funds. In a deal reached with Crown lawyers in 1997, Charles Warwick Reid dropped his appeal against the ruling, and the Reids were allowed to rent their former home at market rates for a period of six years, until their youngest child turned sixteen. (Source: AFP, "Ex-HK Prosecutor Warwick Reid gives up fight to keep assets," October 17, 1997.)