NZ legal expert appointed to address Australian fraud case

New Zealand legal expert appointed to address Australian fraud case

Former senior lawyer and leading McKenzie Friend, Vinay Deobhakta from Auckland has been accepted as a McKenzie Friend by the NSW Supreme Court In the litigation involving Australia’s biggest ever “ponzi “scheme”.

The original term McKenzie Friend came from a UK divorce case in 1970. The parties were West-Indian. The husband, Levine McKenzie, was no longer able to afford his legal team and so they graciously offered him a young Australian barrister (Ian Hanger) to assist. Hangar had just started working with them but was not qualified. The judge however would not allow Hangar to assist, except in adjournments and they lost the case. On appeal however they won and set in stone that anyone is allowed assistance during court proceedings and those assisting do not have to be qualified lawyers.

The Ponzi scheme, based in Bondi Junction, fleeced investors of $209 million dollars.

The biggest loser, happens to be a philanthropic group who invested $8.8 million ( on the good word of the directors and staff ) with Courtenay House Capital Trading and $6 million with Courtenay House. In what they believe to be a game changer, the group has dumped its former International law firm and asked Deobhakta to join its team and take charge of its interests in not only this case but the overall supervision of the Organisation's other legal matters and staff.

Deobhakta is the director of a self litigant and McKenzie Friend training company McKenzie Friend Professionals Limited registered in NZ and the documents before the court confirm he has been officially appointed and accepted by the Supreme Court as Mckenzie Friend. One of the directors of the group who headhunted Deobhakta confirmed they had taken 9 months searching the world for someone like him. “When we flew over to NZ to finally meet this man I knew within 5 minutes of meeting him that he was the one.”

Deobhakta trains self litigants and McKenzie Friends in NZ and Australia and his training workshops were “immensely popular” on both sides of the Tasman. He said he hoped to be a catalyst for change in “our current legal and banking systems.” He practised as a lawyer in NZ and UK for 20 years before he was controversially struck off in 2009 following the one and only complaint ever made against him. The complaint was for something which typically attracts a fine but is at the digression of a the Law Society versus justice being the same for all.

Deobhakta confirmed that although he will be based in Australia much of next year, that would not affect his training workshops in both NZ and Australia in any way. The company was growing rapidly he said.

Fiona, a NZ Mother whose ex husband resides in Australia, has worked with Deobhakta around the family court and expresses the sentiments of many consumers. "Legal proceedings are so expensive and lawyers, if so inclined, can exacerbate conflict and legal proceedings to put money in their own pocket" she says.

In 2009 Dame Margaret Bazley was commissioned in New Zealand to identify the reason for New Zealands legal aid blowout and the later was also cited as one of the reason for increased legal costs to the government.

Deobhakta's success in delivering greater access to justice for people at a lower price point in a timely manner has attracted a loyal client base. An ex senior lawyer and with several specialist fields including major receiverships and insolvencies around the world, his clients include the Crafar Farms Receivership which involved the sensitive topic of sales of large parcels of NZ farmland to foreigners.

"I became a lawyer to deliver justice for people but even I became disillusioned with the current system because of the injustice I personally experienced. The Mckenzie Friend concept is a great model to improve the civil liberties of the consumer and I'm proud to be working in the country of the original Mckenzie Friend and, of course, one of my heroes Sir Ian Hangar" says Deobhakta.

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