Capital + Merchant Finance: Two More Directors Plead Guilty

News release
5 February 2013

Two More Directors Plead Guilty In Capital + Merchant Finance Case

Two more directors of Capital + Merchant Finance have today entered guilty pleas to three charges laid by the Financial Markets Authority under the Securities Act 1978.

Robert Gordon Sutherland and Colin Gregory Ryan, who reside in Australia, pleaded guilty to two charges of making an untrue statement in a registered prospectus and one charge of distributing advertisements which included an untrue statement. They will be sentenced on 15 March at the High Court in Auckland.

Under the New Zealand Securities Act and the Australian Commonwealth Corporations Act, their convictions mean they are automatically banned from managing companies in New Zealand and Australia for five years.

Last week another Capital + Merchant director, Owen Tallentire, pleaded guilty to the same charges.

"The law requires Directors to ensure that investors receive accurate information in disclosure documents. FMA regards the guilty pleas of Mr Sutherland and Mr Ryan as reflecting their failure in their obligations to investors in this respect,” said FMA Head of Enforcement Belinda Moffat.

The prosecution against Capital + Merchant directors Neal Nicholls and Wayne Douglas is scheduled to begin on 11 February.

Capital + Merchant Finance (in receivership and liquidation) owed $167.1 million to about 7500 investors when it was placed in receivership in November 2007.

ENDS

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