The Crown prosecutor in the trial of four Bridgecorp directors says a surprise guilty plea by one of them vindicates the decision to prosecute.
At the High Court in Auckland Gary Urwin, a non-executive director, has admitted 10 charges of making untrue statements in documents given to investors.
He has been bailed to his son's house in Australia, but will return next month for sentencing.
The prosecutor, Brian Dickey, says Urwin has lived in Australia throughout the proceedings and is not getting special treatment.
Urwin's lawyer told the court he would be asking for a sentence of home detention but Mr Dickey says the Crown seeks a jail term.
There is a maximum of five years' imprisonment for each of the 10 offences Urwin has pleaded guilty to.
Defence will open next week
More than 14,500 investors lost about $459 million when Bridgecorp collapsed in 2007. As well as Urwin, another non-executive director, Peter Steigrad, went on trial in Auckland last month along with directors Rod Petricevic and Rob Roest.
The Crown has set out its case, saying the men did not give investors all the information they could have, and the hearing has been adjourned until next week, when the defence will open.
Mr Steigrad's lawyer says the trial for the other three men should proceed as normal next week, as they will maintain their pleas of not guilty pleas at this stage.
Bridgecorp chair Bruce Davidson pleaded guilty before the trial and was sentenced to nine months' home detention and ordered to pay $500,000 in reparation.
