most comprehensive accounts of, and visions for, New Zealand. While his views were often original and independent, many that were rejected at the time are now accepted. He was a nation-builder who wanted to see an economically strong and socially fair New Zealand, free from colonial ties, whether economic or political. He was a committed nationalist, and on many matters ahead of his times. Economist Brian Easton has argued that: "The events surrounding the trial overshadowed the significance of what went before, and have muted subsequent recognition of his intellectual contributions." The trial also overshadowed his role in the establishment of UNICEF. Sutch's daughter, Helen Sutch, said after the declassification of New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) documents in 2008 said: "Our family hopes that justice can now be done to that historic legacy, which has been overshadowed for so long by events in the last year of his life". Controversy Charges under the Official Secrets Act In September 1974, Sutch was arrested and charged under the Official Secrets Act 1951 following a series of clandestine meetings with KGB agent Dimitri Rasgovorov, an official of the Soviet Union's embassy in Wellington. Sutch was the only New Zealander ever to stand trial under the espionage provisions of the Official Secrets Act, based on the British Act of 1951 and repealed in 1983. The SIS aimed to catch Sutch passing on information during a meeting at night in a public park, but did not detain Sutch until after Rasgovorov had left. They assumed Sutch would co-operate once caught red handed. When he did not, they could not provide specific details of what information Sutch had passed to the Soviet diplomat (hence the curious charge that he faced, under the Official Secrets Act, of passing unspecified information to the Soviet Union). Sutch claimed his meetings with Soviet officials were after the Russian ostensibly approached him in his capacity as a stalwart of the NZ Friends of Israel, for information about who were the Zionists in New Zealand, and to discuss China. At trial the SIS claimed that the retired Sutch had obtained official government information to give to the Soviets but was unable to provide details of what information. Following a high-profile trial, a jury acquitted Sutch of the charges in February 1975. Sutch began to suffer ill health at about the same time as he was arrested and died from liver cancer