Auckland's downtown promotion agency has reached a settlement with trusts linked to its former chief executive Alex Swney, who has been jailed for defrauding the agency.
Former Heart of the City CEO Alex Swney was sentenced to jail at the Auckland District Court earlier this year. Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Heart of the City would not say how much it has recovered in a civil action against Swney and the two trusts, citing court-imposed confidentiality.
Swney was jailed for a total of five years and seven months in June, for illegally obtaining $2.5 million from the agency he led by creating and approving false invoices and for tax evasion.
Heart of the City said the settlement provided for the recovery of most of the money, which it claimed had been transferred by Swney to the trusts.
Swney himself was last month declared bankrupt in action taken by Inland Revenue over an almost $3.8 million dollar tax debt.