Bridgecorp, Five Star directors suspended

Cornelis Roest. Photo / Richard Robinson

Two failed finance company directors have been suspended from the Institute of Chartered Accountants after being found guilty of conduct unbecoming to an accountant and breaching its code of ethics.

Bridgecorp director Cornelis Robert Roest, who is facing 10 charges brought by the Securities Commission relating to issuing false prospectuses for the finance company, failed to show up to a hearing held by the institute's disciplinary tribunal last Tuesday.

The tribunal found Roest had brought discredit to the profession by being banned from being a director for five years by the Companies Office in May last year and by being made bankrupt in the High Court at Auckland in September.

"Accordingly, the tribunal found these particulars to support a finding of guilty in respect of [the] charges."

The tribunal ordered Roest be suspended from the institute until either his directorship ban or bankruptcy order ended and he was publicly censured.

He must also pay $5361 to the institute for the costs of the hearing and its publicity. Bridgecorp collapsed in July 2007 owing 14,300 investors $459 million.

Meanwhile, Five Star Finance director Anthony Walpole Bowden, a retired accountant, admitted to bringing discredit to the profession and pleaded guilty to both of the charges at his hearing last Tuesday.

In its ruling the tribunal said it "accepted that the member acted in good faith, albeit to a standard insufficient to satisfy the Register of Companies".

Bowden was banned from being a director for five years in May last year.

The tribunal suspended Bowden for the period of his directorship ban and ordered him to pay $3000 costs. It suppressed evidence about his current financial and personal circumstances.

Bowden faces criminal charges laid by the Companies Office relating to securities offered to members of the public without a registered prospectus or investment statement.

Five Star collapsed in 2007 owing $90 million.