Well-known entertainer Mika Haka has been sentenced to 11 months home detention after attempting to help a prominent businessman avoid trial for indecent assault.
Mika, also known as Mika X, admitted to two charges of attempting to dissuade and bribe an indecent assault complainant from giving evidence against the businessman and was convicted.
Mika previously denied offering the man a $15,000 cheque, which he said would clear once his allegations were withdrawn.
He appeared at the High Court in Auckland today and can now be named after suppression was lifted. He also avoided prison time.
Mika has gained international recognition as a producer, dancer and actor.
More recently, he had a stint in politics standing for The Opportunities Party in the Auckland Central seat during the 2017 elections.
Mika will now be standing down from the Mika Haka Charitable Foundation, which will be taking on a new name.
Last week the businessman in relation to the case was found guilty of indecently assaulting three men in the early 2000s, 2008 and 2016.
Plot thickens
The NZ Herald has reported that Mika was the person who introduced the victim to the businessman who is a rich lister.
After the assault took place in October of 2016, the victim filed a police report.
The businessman then arranged for his business manager to seek help from Mika to try and convince the victim to withdraw his accusations.
During a meeting between Mika and the victim, Mika offered him $15,000.
The victim explained he did not want the money but was concerned about the businessman's abuse of power.
The victim had then moved back to Australia where he had grown up. And in an attempt to stop the victim from testifying in court, the businessman sought the services of the PR firm Goulter & Associates.
The PR firm is run by Hamish Jevan Goulter who is also linked to a well-known politician with name suppression.
Goulter and his business associate Allison Edmunds were witnesses in the case and were granted immunity from prosecution by the Crown.
In 2017, Goulter and Mika flew to the Gold Coast to meet with the victim to try and stop him from testifying. The victim decided to record the meeting covertly.
A later meeting in Auckland was held involving Goulter, Edmunds and the businessman's manager. Edmunds covertly recorded this conversation.
Along with being convicted of indecently assaulting three men, the businessman was also found guilty of two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice for the April 2017 meeting and the Gold Coast plot.
The businessman's manager was also found guilty for one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice for the Gold Coast attempt.
Both men continue to have interim name suppression and are due to be sentenced in May.