Stock agent fined $4,000: deliberately falsified sale dockets, overcharged farmer $3,920 for cattle
Published12 Sep 2000
The Hamilton District Court today fined independent stock agent Hugh Roderick Chisholm $4,000 after he admitted that he had deliberately falsified saleyard dockets and overcharged a farmer $3,920 for cattle.
Commerce Commission Chair John Belgrave said that the Commission prosecuted Mr Chisholm for breaching the Fair Trading Act, which prohibits false or misleading claims about prices.
A farmer had arranged for Mr Chisholm to buy cattle on his behalf and on behalf of his parents. Mr Chisholm bought 191 steers but falsely claimed that he had paid more for them than was true.
When the farmer asked for proof of the purchase prices, Mr Chisholm altered the dockets from the sale yards.
"This was not carelessness," Mr Belgrave said. "Mr Chisholm was well aware of the prices that he had paid yet he intentionally gave false prices to the farmer and went as far as falsifying invoices to support his false claims."
In Court today the Commission stated that this case needed to be a deterrent to Mr Chisholm as an individual and to other stock agents.
"The stock agent is trusted by the farmer to make significant purchases on the farmer's behalf. The agent is expected to buy the best cattle at the best price and to act in the farmer's best interests at all times. That relationship of trust has been significantly breached in the present case," Mr Belgrave said.
Background
Section 13(g) of the Fair Trading Act prohibits false or misleading claims about the prices of any goods or services. Courts can impose fines of up to $30,000 on an individual and up to $100,000 on a company.
The Commission alleged that Mr Chisholm breached this section after stock sales at Matawhero, Ngongotaha and Pio Pio in August 1997.
