A judge has ordered the founder of the failed property investment company Blue Chip to pay fines of $37,500 and serve 75 hours' community service.
In the Auckland District Court on Thursday afternoon, Mark Bryers was sentenced on 34 charges, most of them relating to inadequate financial reporting, such as failing to complete or sign off company accounts.
When Blue Chip collapsed in 2008, more than 2000 investors were owed more than $84 million.
The lawyer for the Ministry of Economic Development had requested 100 hours of community service and a starting point for the fine of $70,000.
Bryers's lawyer, on the other hand, submitted that the fine should be $30,000, with no community service, because his client lives in Australia and his position as a bankrupt would make it hard to travel.
Enormous hardship created - judge
Judge Christopher Field said Bryers knew his obligations but simply failed to carry them out, with catastrophic results. His failure had created enormous hardship, the judge said, and also involved enormous consequences.
Judge Field said it was important the sentence send a message to the financial community. He said the number of victim impact statements amounted to the size of a telephone directory.
Outside the court afterwards, however, Susan Edmonds, who heads the lobby group Exposing Unacceptable Financial Activity, told media that she doesn't believe the judge gave the statements enough weight and that the sentence was a "total whitewash".
About 50 people packed the courtroom for the sentencing, many clearly hoping that Bryers would be given a stiff penalty.
A Serious Fraud Office investigation into Blue Chip is continuing.
