Disgraced former MP taken to court by his parents over $250,000 loan

Friday, 4 March 2022

Former National MP Aaron Gilmore resigned from Parliament after a boozy incident in Hanmer Springs in 2013.

Disgraced former MP Aaron Gilmore has been taken to court by his parents over an unpaid loan worth more than $250,000.

Gilmore appeared in the High Court at Christchurch on February 24 before Associate Judge Dale Lester via audio link from Wellington for a summary judgment. A summary judgment is a procedure that allows a plaintiff to obtain a judgment from the court without going through a full trial.

The request for a summary judgment was filed by his parents, Garry and Kay Gilmore, relating to a $257,000 loan from 2018. There was no dispute over the amount of money owed.

Aaron Gilmore told the court he was selling an apartment on Mulgrave St, Wellington worth $500,000 for $400,000. The apartment had been on the market for a number of weeks, and he had hoped to be able to use the proceeds of the sale to pay his parents back before last week’s hearing.

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Gilmore told the High Court in February that he would use the sale proceeds of his Mulgrave St apartment in Wellington to repay the loan to his parents.

However, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the Parliament occupation, it was not possible “through no fault of my own”.

Judge Lester asked Gilmore if he was willing to put in place security undertakings on the sale of that unit, so his parents could have confidence that upon sale the money would go to them.

Gilmore said he would, and had offered that “numerous times”. He added he had another apartment on the same street which he could offer as additional security.

He had earlier indicated he would be able to get the apartment sold within 90 days, however the parliament occupation meant it was no longer likely.

“I literally have police in riot gear within 50 metres of where I’m speaking,” he said.

The judge agreed to give Gilmore 120 days to sell the apartment, hoping it would address the issue of the protesters.

Security over the apartments would also be arranged. In default of agreed security, Gilmore’s parents would be entitled to a charging order, stopping him from selling the apartment until the debt was paid. To transfer ownership, the debtor must pay the amount to remove the charging order.

The judge issued a consent judgment and reserved Gilmore’s parents’ application for costs, which Gilmore opposed.

Leave was reserved for both parties to come back if anything further arose.

Stuff contacted Gilmore for comment following the hearing.

He said it was a “private family matter”.

“The reason why this hearing is occurring is because my parents wanted someone to report this process. My parents are in the wrong here.”

He referred to the hearing as a “complete waste of time”, and said the money had been lent to an entity that he was representing.

Gilmore made the headlines in 2013 and was reluctantly forced to quit Parliament over his antics during a boozy night in Hanmer Springs where he allegedly asked a barman “do you know who I am” and allegedly misled Prime Minister John Key’s office.

Last year Gilmore’s $260,000 claim against his landlord backfired with a judge telling him to pay the landlord more than $11,000 in costs.