Peter Huljich, the founder of Huljich Wealth Management in New Zealand, is facing conviction and fines after pleading guilty to a number of fraud charges with the Auckland District Court, local media reports show. 

The charges are related to misrepresentations in the performance of the firm's KiwiSaver scheme from May 2008 to January 2010, where it allegedly topped up figures to give it a favourable market ranking. The KiwiSaver program was introduced by the government of New Zealand in 2007 as a way to help improve the country's low average saving rate. 

Peter Huljich himself had admitted to injecting his own money twice into investments managed by the firm to inflate records. He has pleaded guilty for misleading the public and now faces a fine of A$112,632 ($114,700). Huljich Wealth Management has also admitted guilt and was fined A$239,000 plus A$95,265 in legal and court expenses. 

To justify the decision, Judge Brooke Gibson reportedly said that while Huljich claims to not have known that parts of the performance records were incorrect, "he should have" and characterised the businessman's offence as "gross negligence or reckless."

No investor money was lost because of the misrepresentations but the reputation of the KiwiSaver market had been undermined by Huljich's actions, the judge said. Seven other violations under the Securities Act were dropped after the businessman pleaded guilty.