The cases of four former senior managers at the former Hickman Equipment company — charged with defrauding the company 10 years after the former John Deere dealership went bankrupt — were called in provincial court in St. John's this morning.
Former general manager Hubert Hunt, vice-president of sales William Parsons, chief financial officer Gary Hillyard and sales manager John King face more than a dozen charges, including fraud over $5,000 and conspiracy to commit fraud,. The charges were laid after allegations they had falsified company books and records.
Hunt was the only one of the four accused people in Courtroom No. 7 when the cases were called. All four were represented by their lawyers — Kim Horwood and Richard Rogers for Hunt, Randy Piercey for Parsons, Ron Cole for Hillyard and John McGrath for John King.
Piercey told Judge Greg Brown that due to the substantial amount of disclosure, they would need more time to review the evidence.
"It's the most disclosure I've seen in almost 30 years," said Piercey, who has been practising law for 28 years.
All the lawyers agreed to have the case come back to court Feb. 27.
Hickman Equipment, owned by a successful local family, went bankrupt in 2002. The company was in the hole to the tune of $113 million.
Police investigated suspicions that someone who worked for the company was selling millions of dollars worth of machinery the company didn't own.
