{"id":632095,"date":"2026-10-16T05:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T05:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/632095\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T05:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T05:24:09","slug":"former-dairy-executive-sentenced-after-receiving-over-300k-in-kickbacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/632095\/","title":{"rendered":"Former dairy executive sentenced after receiving over $300k in kickbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">A former Open Country Dairy executive has been sentenced to 12 months home detention after accepting nearly $320,000 in gifts from an overseas customer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Open Country Dairy group market manager Simon Stewart <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2025\/08\/21\/former-dairy-exec-charged-for-allegedly-receiving-270k-in-kickbacks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">received the money from Indonesian-based customer Anta Tirta Kirana<\/a> in exchange for information and advice relating to the sales of dairy products.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Stewart revealed information about sensitive business that influenced pricing negotiations and dealings between Open Country Dairy and Anta Tirta Kirana.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">In July, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/07\/15\/dairy-executive-took-276k-in-secret-payments-for-pricing-information\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he pleaded guilty to one charge of accepting a gift by an agent<\/a> under section four of the Secret Commissions Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">There were 27 bank transactions made by Anta Tirta Kirana to Stewart between April 1, 2019 and October 10 2023, each ranging between $6980 and $22,767.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Stewart also received the NZ equivalent of $43,000 in foreign cash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Largely owned by Talley&#8217;s Food Group, Open Country Dairy is NZ&#8217;s second-largest milk processor and the world&#8217;s second-largest whole milk powder exporter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Serious Fraud Office director Karen Change said Stewart&#8217;s actions could have potentially impacted New Zealand&#8217;s dairy industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">\u201cThe dairy industry is a vital part of the New Zealand economy, and Mr Stewart\u2019s conduct had the potential to undermine confidence in this important sector,\u201d Change said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">\u201cIt is essential that those who engage in corrupt practices are held to account, particularly when their actions risk impacting the integrity and reputation of a key sector.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Stewart was sentenced at Manukau District Court on Thursday, and was ordered to pay $250,000 in reparation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The case was initially referred to the Serious Fraud Office in December 2023 after an Open Country Dairy internal investigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The Serious Fraud Office thanked and acknowledged Open Country Dairy for their assistance and cooperation during the investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Open Country Dairy executive has been sentenced to 12 months home detention after accepting nearly $320,000&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[67,14934,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-632095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-farming","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}