Wandering about the corridors of Auckland’s historic High Court, an elderly grey man in a grey suit, a bright pink shirt and a red tie admires the artwork that adorns the walls.

• Published date: 02 July 2023
• Publication title: Herald on Sunday

His somewhat frail figure gives no indication of the money and influence he holds. But it is also this power that he wielded against his victims

Sir James Wallace, who for more than five years was described in news stories as the “prominent businessman” accused and eventually convicted of indecently assaulting three men and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

On Wednesday at 2pm, the 85-year-old’s name suppression order, which has been constantly opposed by the Herald on Sunday, lapsed.

Wallace lives a life befitting of one of New Zealand’s rich listers in his four-storey Epsom mansion called Rannoch, a home filled with art and surrounded by lush gardens.

Always dressed fashionably and somewhat theatrically, Wallace displays his flair with his attire — which has included a flamboyant map print jacket.

NBR’s 2020 rich list estimated his net worth at $170 million.

His fortune, however, did not come through art but was made through a variety of business interests, most notably a meat processing plant in Waitoa.

Wallace established the Wallace Corporation in 1996 and combined both his own and family businesses. The Wallace Corporation merged with the Spence Family’s Farm Brand Ltd in 2017 and became the Wallace Group Ltd Partnership.

The group creates animal skins, hides, and protein meals and distributes to several countries including the US and China.

Wallace’s wealth then saw him move into the world of arts philanthropy, where he became one of New Zealand’s biggest donors, and resulted in his being knighted for services to the arts in 2011 — a knighthood the Government has already begun moves to take back.

He is perhaps best known for the Wallace Art Awards, the richest annual art awards in the country, which gives hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes.

During its 29-year history, the awards have granted more than 100 prizes valued at more than $275,000 and enabled more than 60 overseas residencies for Kiwi artists.

The Wallace Arts Trust — now named The Arts House Trust — and its vast collection, housed in the Pah Homestead in Auckland’s Monte Cecilia Park since 2010 and now owned by the Auckland Council, is open to the public.

Several months after he was first charged in February 2017, Wallace gave an interview to the Herald’s Viva magazine and spoke of his love for the art world.

“Without art and culture, you are a vegetable,” he said.

Wallace, who had an office on the upper floor of the homestead, has amassed thousands of artworks and has been responsible for one of the largest arts patronage programmes in the country.

“We spend around $2 million a year on the arts,” he told Viva.

Wallace’s entry into the art world began when he was a student at Auckland’s exclusive King’s College. He won a scholarship to study in Boston for the last year of school and visited New York’s famous galleries and museums and was taken by opera.

He said he lacked the talent to become a painter so began collecting art.

He later became a founding patron or funder of New Zealand Opera, the Auckland Theatre Company and the Royal NZ Ballet. Wallace is also a founding patron of the ASB Waterfront Theatre, home of the Auckland Theatre Company.

As his reputation as an arts benefactor blossomed, Wallace became involved in New Zealand’s film industry and has backed several of this country’s most celebrated films, including Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople and more recently Baby Done, where he served as one of the executive producers alongside the Oscar winner.

At the launch party for Baby Done in 2020, however, Wallace cut a lonely figure. He was pictured standing alone in the crowd, wearing a jacket and tie and seemingly surrounded by an invisible barrier keeping other patrons from him.

The allegations against him, as many art insiders have told the Herald on Sunday, had become Auckland’s worst-kept secret.

“It’s not going to come to anything,” Wallace adamantly told Herald senior reporter Anna Leask during a telephone call in February 2017, shortly after he’d been charged by police.

“There is absolutely no substance to it, it is a completely vicious blackmailing effort, which is not going to succeed.”

The charges were “incredibly unfair”, Wallace maintained. “It’s horrible to have this . . . truthless accusation hanging over my head. This could affect my personal reputation and my ability to help the organisations I am involved in.”

He called it a “pack of lies.”

The next day, the Weekend Herald broke the story on its front page — a prominent New Zealander had been criminally charged.

Wallace’s denials continued in the courtroom. He pleaded not guilty to an initial charge of indecent assault, against a young man in the arts and theatre community, at Rannoch in October 2016.

A trial was scheduled for September 25, 2017 and Wallace continued to live his life as though nothing had happened. He gave interviews to arts and culture writers, attended high-profile events, and had dinners with some of New Zealand’s most influential people.

Prime Ministers and celebrities have dined with him. After all, he was one of, if not the biggest, benefactors in the New Zealand arts scene.

But Wallace’s trial would never begin.

“Substantial amount of fresh disclosure provided to defence late last week,” the trial judge...