One of Australia's largest table grape exporters, The Grape House (TGH), has been fined more than US$703,000 after being found guilty of breaching biosecurity requirements in exports to New Zealand.
The New South Wales District Court heard that the Department of Agriculture determined the company had "deliberately misled government officials" while exporting 145 tons of grapes to New Zealand during the 2017 and 2018 export seasons.
TGH had declared the grapes were sourced from South Australia and grown in a "fruit fly pest-free area." Investigations found, however, that the grapes originated from various "non-fruit fly pest-free areas." This was done to avoid the mandatory 16-day cold storage disinfection process required for produce from such regions.
New Zealand is free from fruit flies, which are considered a destructive horticultural pest capable of damaging most commercial crops. District Court Judge Robert Newlinds SC stated that the company's actions aimed to accelerate its "cash flow." He described the conduct as "a deliberate and sustained manipulation of the system of export, in pursuit of financial gain," adding that the activity was premeditated, occurred over an extended period, and involved planning.
At the time of the offences, Charlie Costa was the sole director of TGH, while Colin Egan served as Warehouse and Logistics Manager. Mr Costa remains in his position, while Mr Egan has left the company for health reasons. The court heard that Mr Egan signed "deliberately false" transfer certificates regarding the grapes' origins. Judge Newlinds noted there was "no suggestion" Mr Costa was unaware of these actions and said there was no evidence of remorse from the director.
"TGH is a significant participant in the Australian table grape export industry," Judge Newlinds said. "Both TGH as a corporation, its sole Director, Mr Costa, and Mr Egan had considerable experience in the industry during the offending period, and there is no suggestion that what they did was some sort of mistake or momentary slip."
The Grape House, operating since 1989, was fined a total of AU$1,050,000 (US$703,000). Judge Newlinds said the offending had placed both New Zealand's biosecurity and Australia's reputation at risk, noting that the absence of fruit flies in New Zealand following the exports was due to "good fortune."
"The offending risked New Zealand's biosecurity as well as Australia's reputation, which could have, but luckily did not, cause financial harm to both the New Zealand and Australian economies and also individual farmers within both countries," he said.
Source: News.com