Eric Watson’s Positive Covid 19 Test Reduced Jail Time, London Judge Ruled

Former lister Eric Watson will spend less time behind bars after testing positive for Covid-19, a London judge ruled.

The High Court of England and Wales earlier this month found Watson in contempt of court for withholding information about his assets in the lengthy legal battle with Kiwi philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn and his company Kea Investments (Kea).

He was sentenced to four months in prison by Lord Justice Christopher Nugee this week.

In his sentencing sentence, now publicly released, Judge Nugee said he was “satisfied that it was a gross, deliberate and reckless disregard” and designed to conceal a Kea asset that he had a right to know.

However, the judge granted Watson, who previously owned the Warriors rugby league club with Glenn, some discounts for personal factors, including testing positive for Covid-19 and his relationship with his partner and children.

“The Covid pandemic has made these hearings difficult to hold,” Judge Nugee said.

“Your personal circumstances, including the fact that, as I have seen, you have tested positive for Covid, have made it doubly difficult, and I accept that you have not tried to run away from this case, but to get up and face it, nor have you tried to postpone it when it was time for it to finally be listed. “

Much of the time and complexity of the procedure was also attributed to the complexity of Watson’s financial affairs, the judge added, but accepted that the circumstances had been “a very difficult and stressful experience” and a form of punishment.

Despite this, Judge Nugee held the view that a custodial sentence was necessary.

“But I am willing to reduce the sentence from what it would have otherwise been to make it as short as possible. Had it not been for those personal mitigation issues, I would have sentenced you to a period of six months or more,” he added. he said.

“As it stands, I am reducing the term to a four-month sentence, balancing the seriousness of the conduct I have encountered with the consequences for you and your family.”

Watson, who moved to London in 2002, asked the judge to suspend his prison sentence pending an appeal, for which he has 21 days to do so.

But Judge Nugee rejected the offer, saying: “I don’t think there is a real prospect that the Court of Appeal will allow an appeal, given the findings of fact that I made and the interpretation of the order that I adopted. Of course, it proves to be wrong. … “

Watson will be a guest of Her Majesty’s Pentonville Prison in London.

Judge Nugee said the law meant that Watson will, in fact, only serve half of his sentence, that is, a release before Christmas.

After a lengthy trial, it was discovered that Watson had cheated on Glenn during his dealings.

He was found liable in 2018 for £ 43.5 million ($ 85 million) and compound interest at 6.5 per cent per annum in compensation to Kea. He was ordered to pay a provisional sum of £ 25 million ($ 48.8 million) plus costs of £ 3.8 million ($ 7.4 million).

Watson, who developed a reputation in the 1990s and early 2000s as a playboy who dates lingerie models, appealed the ruling.

However, it was dismissed by the UK Court of Appeal in October 2019.

Kea then accused Watson of being “deliberately reluctant” to provide information about his assets as part of a strategy to thwart compensation recovery efforts.

He sought three contempt orders against Watson, which were discussed for several days in April and May, on suspicions about interests, including those of his mother Joan Pollock and a house bought in Sweden with his partner Lisa Henrekson.

“I have discovered that you have been in contempt of court by knowingly failing to disclose the existence of the Rainy Day account in your mother’s name and by providing bank statements for the Rainy Day account, which I have discovered you knew to be it was money at his disposal, “Judge Nugee told Watson at his sentencing.

Watson, formerly one of the richest men in New Zealand and entangled in the fall of the Hanover Group, now claims to be poor and said in a court statement that “my mother gives me the small amount that I spent in life.”

However, an analysis of Watson’s bank statements from September 2018 to September 2019 showed that more than £ 500,000 ($ 976,987) went into his account, much of what was described as a “Rainy Day” account.

If Watson had disclosed the “Rainy Day” account to Kea, there would have been about $ 400,000 left.

“His failure to do so meant that Kea missed the opportunity to take steps to secure his trial,” Judge Nugee said.

Watson’s attorney, Thomas Grant QC, argued that it would not have been easy and likely would have led to legal proceedings in New Zealand against Pollock.

“Not only do I believe that Mr. Watson had every reason to think that Kea would try to do that, I have no doubt that Kea would have explored the question of whether it was possible and appropriate to seek to secure that money,” Judge Nugee said. He said.

The harm and prejudice to Kea, the judge said, was depriving himself of the opportunity to decide that for himself and taking him before a New Zealand court.

“In terms of culpability, you were personally responsible for these decisions,” Judge Nugee told Watson.

“The authorities state that deliberate infractions of court orders are always serious because they tend to undermine the administration of justice. As I have said before, the entire system of administration of justice depends on the people that the courts order – actually doing them.” .

Grant said Watson apologized out of respect for the court, but Judge Nugee did not give him any credit for genuine remorse for his intentions to appeal the sentence.

“I remember the issues raised by Mr. Grant on your behalf that you are a man without criminal convictions, but that you cannot present him as a man of blameless character,” Judge Nugee said.

In his contempt sentence, the judge said Watson also did not “willingly pay a penny” of what Kea was ordered to “still owe the vast majority.”

Glenn, who is also based in the UK, said he has spent more than $ 40 million in legal fees to go after Watson after their short-lived business partnership collapsed in bitter acrimony.

The consequences of the litigation have been in the courts of the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the British Virgin Islands for the past six years.

Judge Nugee has said Glenn was not pursuing the contempt court action “out of a desire for revenge.”

Earlier this year, Watson Cullen Group also dropped an appeal against an unfavorable $ 112 million tax judgment.

In March 2019, the New Zealand High Court ruled in favor of the Internal Revenue Commissioner, saying the Cullen Group was part of Watson’s “network of entities,” designed to avoid paying withholding tax to non-residents.