The former chairman of failed finance company Bridgecorp and two directors have made their first court appearance on charges that they misled investors.
Bridgecorp went into receivership in 2007 owing hundreds of millions of dollars.
Directors Rod Petricevic and Rob Roest are already before the court but were excused from Tuesday's appearance at Auckland District Court.
Former chairman Bruce Davidson and non-executive directors Peter Steigrad and Gary Urwin are charged with creating documents that misrepresented the company's financial position and the risk it posed to investors.
They have entered no plea.
All five are due to appear again in April.
