Lombard Finance
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The Honourable Bill Jeffries |
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|---|---|
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| 40th Minister of Justice | |
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In office 13 August 1989 – 2 November 1990 |
|
| Prime Minister |
Geoffrey Palmer Mike Moore |
| Preceded by | Geoffrey Palmer |
| Succeeded by | Doug Graham |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Patrick Jeffries 19 September 1945 Wellington, New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
| Profession | Lawyer |
William Patrick Jeffries (born 19 September 1945 in Wellington) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Heretaunga and served as an undersecretary and Minister of Justice. In 2012, he was convicted of untrue statements to investors and sentenced to house arrest and community service; Justice Dobson was of the opinion that Jeffries believed his statements but the law required accuracy not belief.
Jeffries was a member of the Wellington City Council from 1974 until 1980. Wellington Mayor Sir Michael Fowler later described Jeffries as an "extremely good" councillor. His brother John was previously also a councillor and Deputy Mayor to Sir Frank Kitts.
In 1978 Jeffries unsuccessfully contested the seat of Miramar for the Labour Party.
He represented the Heretaunga electorate from 1981 to 1990, when he was defeated by National candidate Peter McCardle in a swing against Labour. He was undersecretary to the Minister of Transport in 1986 and also to the Minister of Works, and chairman of a parliamentary committee on road safety, in 1987. In April 1988 he was appointed chairman of the National Roads Board. He was Minister of Justice from 1989 to 1990 in the Fourth Labour Government.
On 24 February 2012 Jeffries was convicted, along with fellow former Justice Minister Sir Douglas Graham and two other men, of breaching the Securities Act by making untrue statements to investors in his capacity as a director of Lombard Finance. Justice Robert Dobson wrote, "I am satisfied that the accused genuinely believed in the accuracy and adequacy of the ... documents", but that the offences were ones of strict liability so there was no need for "any form of mental intent to distribute documents that were false or misleading". Jeffries was sentenced to 400 hours community service. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against conviction and increased his sentence to eight months home detention and 250 hours community work, but the Supreme Court restored the original sentence. Retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Edmund Thomas described his convictions as a "grievous miscarriage of justice", saying of the crucial piece of evidence that "you would never ever convict a dog on the basis of the schedule".
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