Petricevic fights legal aid ban

Rod Petricevic's legal aid bid was rejected because of money held in the RM Petricevic Trust. Photo / Richard Robinson

Rod Petricevic has started his legal fight to overturn a decision refusing him legal aid.

His lawyer says his client "has simply no money".

The former Bridgecorp director had his application declined in January, and the appeal against that decision began in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

Petricevic says he needs legal aid to fund his defence against Serious Fraud Office charges.

The trial is expected to be in March next year. His legal aid application was dismissed because of money held in the RM Petricevic Trust.

It is understood the Legal Services Agency was not satisfied that Petricevic could not pay his own fees.

Petricevic is not a beneficiary of the trust but his wife Mary and their three sons are discretionary beneficiaries.

Petricevic and his wife are the trustees of the trust and Petricevic has power of appointment under the trust deed.

One of the trust's principal assets is the family home in Remuera, valued at $4.4 million, that was recently put on the market.

The trust is allegedly millions of dollars in credit. It is also facing separate litigation from a Bridgecorp subsidiary.

But Petricevic's lawyer, Charles Cato, said yesterday his client had no income and no money to pay for his defence against the SFO charges.

"He has no income. The primary access to justice is through a lawyer, to have a lawyer you need resources to pay a lawyer. It's not right that a person is not certain whether he'll have access to a lawyer or not."

Cato said Mrs Petricevic should give Petricevic money only if it advanced the trust, but shouldn't give him money to pay his legal fees.

He said this could be seen as potentially fraudulent to the other beneficiaries.

Crown lawyer Graham Taylor said the dispute was not about trust law but the statutory interpretation of the Legal Services Act.

Taylor said a person's resources were taken into account when they applied for legal aid, and under the act an applicant's partner's resources were the resources of the applicant.

The SFO has accused Petricevic of making fraudulent payments of $1.2 million to a sham business.

Petricevic and fellow Bridgecorp director Robert Roest have been charged over the purchase of the luxury vessel Medici, allegedly bought and its operating costs paid with $1.8 million of investors' money.

Bridgecorp owed 14,500 investors $460 million when it collapsed in 2007.