THE COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE v PROPERTY VENTURES LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION AND IN RECEIVERSHIP) [2013] NZHC 1368

THE COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE v PROPERTY VENTURES LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION AND IN RECEIVERSHIP) [2013] NZHC 1368

The High Court held s266 jurisdiction was engaged and that the police are a 'person' under s261; it ordered delivery of the external hard drive and flash drives to the liquidator because they contained Property Ventures/group records and the liquidator required them for litigation and realisation duties, but imposed...

Source-derived case information.

Citation
[2013] NZHC 1368
Parties
Plaintiff: Commissioner of Inland Revenue; Defendant: Property Ventures Limited (in liquidation and in receivership); Applicant (liquidator): Robert Bruce Walker; Respondent: The New Zealand Police
Court
High Court
Jurisdiction
New Zealand
Judgment Date
11 June 2013
Procedural Posture
Companies Act S266 Application for Production of Company Records / Interlocutory Application and Judgment on Orders for Production of Electronic Records
Outcome
Order granted in part: external hard drives and flash drives (copies) delivered to liquidator subject to specified categorisation and safeguards; application as to tape backup drive rendered otiose by District Court order; costs reserved.
Legal Topics
S266 Companies Act 1993, S261 Companies Act 1993, Production of Documents, Electronic Records, Search Warrants, District Court Jurisdiction, New Zealand Bill of Rights Act Issues
Company Law Insolvency Civil Procedure Evidence Search and Seizure Privacy Law S266 Companies Act 1993 S261 Companies Act 1993 +5 more

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Parties

Commissioner of Inland Revenue

Plaintiff

Property Ventures Limited (in liquidation and in receivership)

Defendant

Robert Bruce Walker

Applicant (liquidator)

The New Zealand Police

Respondent

Procedural Posture

Companies Act S266 Application for Production of Company Records / Interlocutory Application and Judgment on Orders for Production of Electronic Records

  1. 1 Whether the Court has jurisdiction under s266 to order production of electronic copies held by the police
  2. 2 Whether the police constitute a 'person' under s261 such that documents can be required to be delivered
  3. 3 Entitlement of the liquidator to intermixed corporate and personal electronic records

Ratio Decidendi

The High Court held s266 jurisdiction was engaged and that the police are a 'person' under s261; it ordered delivery of the external hard drive and flash drives to the liquidator because they contained Property Ventures/group records and the liquidator required them for litigation and realisation duties, but imposed a mandatory categorisation and safeguards procedure to protect non‑company and personal material; the tape backup drive order became otiose because the District Court had already ordered delivery of that original backup drive to the company.

Court Disposition

Order granted in part: external hard drives and flash drives (copies) delivered to liquidator subject to specified categorisation and safeguards; application as to tape backup drive rendered otiose by District Court order; costs reserved.

Orders

  • The New Zealand Police to deliver to Robert Bruce Walker the external hard drive and the flash drives containing electronic data extracted from the seized laptop forthwith and no later than five working days of this Order.
  • The liquidator is within 15 working days to complete and list an analysis categorising individual electronic documents into: (i) documents required to be disclosed in existing High Court proceedings; (ii) documents relating to the affairs of Property Ventures Ltd or related companies under his administration other...