Nathans Finance bail plea rejected by court

An application for bail by convicted Nathans Finance director Roger Moses has been dismissed by the High Court in Auckland.

Company chairman Moses was sent to jail for two years and two months last week and ordered to pay $425,000 in reparations while fellow director Mervyn Doolan was sentenced to two years and four months jail time, with reparations of $150,000.

Both Moses and Doolan are arguing that they should have been handed down sentences of home detention.

An appeal against the prison sentences will be heard later this month. Doolan withdrew his earlier application for bail pending an appeal.

Justice Heath said he was not satisfied in the interests of justice that bail should be granted to Moses, in part due to the short time he would have to serve in prison before an appeal could be heard.

Fellow director Donald Young, considered by Justice Heath to have been the least culpable of the four directors, was sentenced to nine months home detention, plus 300 hours of community work and ordered to pay reparations of $310,000.

Moses, Doolan and Young were found guilty on five charges of breaching the Securities Act in July after a marathon 12 week High Court trial in the High Court at Auckland earlier this year.

Nathans was placed into receivership in August 2007, owing more than 7000 investors $174 million.

In sentencing the men Justice Heath said their offending did not involve any element of dishonesty, rather the performance of directors was inept.

It was far below the standard any investor would expect, he said.

Justice Heath said it directly caused massive financial loss to investors with consequences for their health.