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Rod Petricevic -
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Day one of the case against four Bridgecorp directors has wrapped up in the High Court in Auckland.
Rod Petricevic, Rob Roest, Gary Urwin and Peter Steigrad are charged under the Securities Act for making untrue statements in company prospectus documents. They have pleaded not guilty.
Crown Prosecutor Brian Dickey says that by 2006, the four accused continued to publish documents that did not show the true state of the company's finances and that by March 2007, the company had been missing payments of interest and principle to its investors.
The Crown says it will present evidence from accounting experts that the company's financial statements were at best misleading and at worst, simply untrue.
Meanwhile, Petricevic and Roest face additional criminal charges brought about by the Serious Fraud Office for allegedly making knowingly false statements in company filings, that the company had never missed a payment to investors.
The pair also face a further 10 Securities Act charges along with directors Urwin and Steigrad.
Bridgecorp has been in receivership for four years.
Investors are likely to recover less than 10% of the $459 million they are owed.
The trial continues tomorrow and will then be adjourned until November 14.
The Crown is then expected to complete its case this year and the trial will restart on January 23, 2012, until its expected conclusion in early March.
The trial has been delayed four times and held up by a last-minute change of legal representation for one of the accused.
Petricevic was turned down for legal aid on the basis he could use money in a family trust to fund his defence.
