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3.8. Other common law jurisdictions


New Zealand - the Equiticorp trial


The largest scale complex criminal trial in New Zealand, a prosecution by the
Serious Fraud Office of alleged fraud offences concerning the failed
Equiticorp group of companies, commenced in the High Court in Auckland under
Tompkins J in June 1992, and concluded in December, three and a half months
earlier than expected. The parties elected to be tried by judge alone. The
founder and Chairman of Equiticorp, Alan Hawkins, was convicted of seven of
eleven charges of fraud and conspiracy, concerning transactions totalling
NZ$520 million (Louisson (1992)). The convictions are now subject to appeal.
Tompkins J claims that the innovative use made of information technology in
the trial was responsible for substantial time savings (Tompkins (1992) p7).

The value of the partially integrated use of five different programs by the
judge has been outlined by Tompkins J (Tompkins (1992)). A document control
database created using Junior Counsel (a program developed in New Zealand) was
used, with data imported from the Serious Fraud Offices' document control
database created using Summation. Tompkins J did not use this a great deal, as
Counsel are normally relied on to provide references to relevant

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