The Companies Office has laid more serious charges against Bridgecorp executive directors Rod Petricevic and Robert Roest that carry maximum penalties of up to 5 years jail or NZ$300,000 in fines, the Securities Commission said. "These additional charges arise from claims in the Bridgecorp prospectus about the company's record of making payments to investors," the Commission said. "The charges have been laid by the Companies Office at the request of the Securities Commission, following further investigations into statements in the prospectus," it said. The charges are laid under section 58 of the Securities Act which says it is an offence to distribute a prospectus containing an untrue statement. "The prosecution relates to claims in the company's prospectus that it had never missed an interest or principal payment. The charges allege that the company missed many payments from February 2007 until it was placed in receivership in July 2007, but continued to claim to the contrary in its prospectus." Those claims are also the subject of other Securities Act charges relating to the allotment of securities laid in June this year. The Commission, the Companies Office and the Serious Fraud Office are continuing their enquiries into Bridgecorp and other finance companies. The Commission said it would not comment further.
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