Saturday, June 19, 2010

Isn't that blackmail?

Our antennae started to reverberate when we read this in the Herald:

ASB fraudster Stephen Versalko wants to keep some of the $17.8 million he stole as "hush money" to stop him from boasting about the fraud when he eventually gets out of jail, says a former prison inmate.

The recently-released prisoner spent six weeks with Versalko at the minimum security Rangipo Prison, near Tongariro.

He told the Weekend Herald that Versalko had talked about approaching the ASB to negotiate a deal where his family could keep some of the money in return for his silence.


OK, it may just be the rantings of an ex-con with a fertile imagination, but IF what he says Versalko plans is correct, isn't that blackmail? We wonder if the local bobby will pay Rangipo Prison a visit this week, and tell Versalko that blackmail carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment, and that Versalko ought to pull his head in quick-smart.

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