John George Russell

Head of the ill-fated Securitibank, NZ, in which many New Zealanders lost most of their life savings and were only repaid a mere fraction of what they lost.

RUSSELL, John George. Passed away 21 May 2018 at Middlemore Hospital, aged 83 years. Much loved husband of Melva. Dearly loved brother of Jean, Robyn, Margaret, Barry and Joy. Loving father and father-in-law of Mary and Peter, Carol, John, Peter, Michelle and Tony. Loved Poppa of Renèe, Monique, Michael, Holly, Daniel, Josh, Rebecca, Nathan, Caleb, Josiah and Alisha, great- grandfather of Abby, Sophie, Rowan, Areta and Olivia. A service to celebrate John's life will be held in Papakura Wesleyan Church, Cnr Croskery and Dominion Road, Papakura on Friday 25 May at 2pm. In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Fred Hollows Foundation, Private Bag 99909, Newmarket, Auckland 1149 would be appreciated or may be left at the service.

Family, friends and legal foes remember John G Russell as a trailblazing moneyman who left a lasting contribution, despite his public persona.

He was the scourge of the taxman, subject of the largest bankruptcy proceeding in New Zealand history.

John George Russell, who ran up a $500 million tax bill during a three-decade war with the IRD, has died.

Arguably Russell's biggest role was managing director of the biggest merchant bank in the country, Securitibank. Staff included Sir Michael Fay, David Richwhite and Rod Petricevic.

Securitibank collapsed in 1976. Creditors were eventually paid the $31 million owed plus interest but Russell believed his reputation was so tainted he was unemployable so set up business as a liquidator and receiver. At the height of his activities, he had 58 staff.

The IRD versus Russell went all the way to the Privy Council. At its peak, 40 staff were dedicated to shutting down his tax schemes known as "the Russell Template".

Described by the Court of Appeal as a "blatant tax-avoidance scheme", it used partnerships to offset the profit made by one company against the tax losses of another.

In 2003 the IRD reassessed Russell's personal income and said he should have declared income of $15.76m between 1985 and 2000 instead of $298,700.

Eventually, and after repeated offers to repay $1000 a week until his death were rejected by the IRD, he accepted bankruptcy in November 2015.

By then the bill had ballooned to almost $500m due to penalties and compound penalty interest.

Russell always maintained he was in the right and saw bankruptcy as payback: "It is a true vendetta in that they are gunning for me personally and they are just going to do whatever they can to get rid of me."

It also restricted his business activities. So his daughter Mary and son John were drafted in to work at Commercial Management, a company run from the family property.