Wild Nature sentenced

Alpaca, 409Wild Nature NZ and its director have been fined after pleading guilty to more than 30 charges of making false representations regarding alpaca and merino wool products.

The company was fined $243,444, and the director Sung Ho (Stanley) Park $25,000 following sentencing in the Auckland District Court.

Rugs and duvets were sold to tourists from China, Korea, and Taiwan, who were from organised tour groups that were taken to the Wild Nature premises.

The tourists were sold ‘New Zealand made’ alpaca rugs, which in fact came from Peru.

The claim that the rugs were NZ made was also repeated in Wild Nature’s marketing brochures, with the company displaying certificates in their showroom and in a brochure that claimed that the rugs had the approval of professional entities, that do not exist.

Duvets were also offered for sale that were labelled as containing exclusively or predominantly alpaca or merino wool fibre, when the alpaca fibres were a small part of the duvet mix, and with no merino wool in the merino duvets.

The company charged tourists up to $4000 per rug, which was up to four times more than they would have paid for correctly labelled rugs.

The duvets were sold for between $400 and $1000, and made for approximately $70.

“The extent to which Wild Nature worked to mislead tourists displayed a callous disregard for the law and New Zealand’s tourism reputation,” Mark Berry, Commission Chairman, said.

“They had no other goal but to rip tourists off and reap the rewards. This behaviour is damaging to our reputation as a tourist destination and also harms other law-abiding tourism businesses by association, as tourists may question who they can trust.”

Judge David Sharp said that the court needed to protect the tourist industry, and that the current case was an occasion where the label of fraud could appropriately be applied.

Wild Nature entered voluntary liquidation in September 2013, while awaiting sentencing.

The High Court ruled that the sentencing should proceed, although this was opposed by the liquidator.

The liquidator confirmed that at the time of voluntary liquidation, it considered that any penalties imposed by the court could be paid by the company’s assets.

“Companies facing prosecution by regulatory authorities should not consider they can avoid the prosecution or penalty by voluntary liquidation,” Justice Venning said.

Following the launch of the Commerce Commission’s investigation in 2011, fines imposed by the court across all prosecutions total $1.15 million.

Wild Nature and Park are the last of eight souvenir companies and seven directors to be sentenced.

“While we are pleased that this investigation has been successfully concluded, we still have concerns about parts of New Zealand’s organised Asian tour group industry. Hopefully these prosecutions serve as a deterrent to anyone who believes they can get away with fleecing tourists, but regardless the industry can be assured we will continue to target this behaviour,” Berry said.

There are currently other companies under investigation by the commission for similar conduct.

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