One of four men charged in a serious fraud relating to an Auckland development project has pleaded guilty in the Auckland High Court.

Lawyer, Timothy Upton Slack (55) has pleaded guilty to one Crimes Act charge of ‘obtaining by deception’.

The charge is in relation to making false statements in order to obtain a credit facility from the ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd to allow a company, Emily Projects Ltd, to develop the Waldorf Celestion Apartment Hotel in Auckland.

It is alleged that a loan facility of about $40 million was obtained.

Mr Slack will be sentenced in the Auckland High Court on 26 September 2017.  While name suppression in relation to Mr Slack has now been lifted, further non-publication orders relating to third parties remain in place.

The remaining defendants in the matter, property developer Leonard John Ross, company director Michael James Wehipeihana and self-employed consultant Vaughn Stephen Foster will face trial on 5 June 2018.