Bryers' ban 'far too short'

Disgraced Blue Chip boss Mark Bryers. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A damning official report into Blue Chip boss Mark Bryers says authorities would ban him from running a company for more than the maximum five years, if they were legally allowed to.

The Herald on Sunday has discovered Government moves to increase bans on dodgy directors to 10 years. But it comes too late for the victims of the Blue Chip collapse.

An official Companies Office report says Bryers' style of management was like "captaining a passenger ferry through Cook Strait without maps or a compass".

Commerce Minister Simon Power said a Ministry of Economic Development discussion paper proposed increasing bans for management failure from five years to 10 years.

Opposition commerce spokeswoman Lianne Dalziel supported the increase to 10 years for those involved in mismanagement. She believed those who were convicted of fraud should face a lifetime ban from acting as a company director.

"If you've committed a fraud, you should never be able to run a company again."

The report also slammed Bryers for "fundamental" failings as a company director - so serious that he needed to be legally restrained to protect the public. As a result, the Companies Office has banned Bryers from having a part in running a business for five years.

The ban was the latest punishment for Bryers, who headed the Blue Chip finance companies which collapsed, costing about 3000 investors more than $80 million.

He was also fined $38,000 and sentenced to 75 hours' community work for bad record-keeping and not attending an investors' meeting.

Deputy registrar of companies Peter Barker ordered the ban but said he was constrained because of the five-year "cap".

He said the "risk to the public" was so great he would have banned Bryers longer if the law allowed. "The public requires protection from Mr Bryers."

Bryers' failings were "fundamental", even though the finance boss had studied law and accounting at university, he said. Barker said Bryers' education meant he knew what his duties as a director were - but suggested he "chose to ignore" those responsibilities with "wilful disregard".

It was possible that Bryers was ignorant of his duties, but in that case, "the public should be spared the consequences of a totally ignorant person managing a company".

Barker said the failure to keep proper books and records was not just a "technical offence" but had been described as "one of the main causes of company failure. It is akin to captaining a passenger ferry through Cook Strait without maps and a compass."

The report came after an investigation from the Ministry of Economic Development's national enforcement unit. Bryers offered no defence to the unit's findings.

The Herald on Sunday obtained the report under the Official Information Act, although key sections were held back.

Companies Office senior solicitor Sarah Burnett said releasing details in the report could affect criminal investigations into the Blue Chip collapse. A Serious Fraud Office investigation continues.

New company documents from the Australian parent company of Blue Chip, Northern Crest Investments, show Bryers was paid $233,000 until March 31 last year. Court documents show Bryers was paid another $12,000 for consultancy work for the rest of the year.