Finance company director Braithwaite admits case to answer

National Finance 2000 directors are charged for their alleged failure to disclose material transactions between the finance company and related parties such as a used car dealership Payless Cars. Photo / Greg Bowker

The depositions hearing for National Finance 2000 came to a premature end this morning after the final director Carol Braithwaite conceded there is a case to answer.

On Monday former directors Trevor (Allan) Ludlow and Anthony Banbrook, who represented themselves, were excused from the depositions hearing because they conceded then there was a case to answer.

Today, Braithwaite conceded and will now wait with her two former colleagues to be committed to trial.

This was one the last depositions hearings to be heard as the procedure has been scrapped to free up court time and speed the committal process up.

The Companies Office laid criminal charges against the directors in 2008.

The charges relate to alleged untrue statements in the company's registered prospectus and failure to comply with financial reporting standards.

The directors are charged under the Financial Reporting Act for their alleged failure to disclose material transactions between the finance company and related parties such as the Payless Cars group and Great North Management.

Both companies have been liquidated and were owned by Ludlow.

The directors are further charged under the Securities Act for allegedly saying they had made adequate provision for bad debts, and that loans were secured by general security agreements, which they were not.

Ludlow faces additional charges for allegedly making false or misleading statements in relation to bad debt provisioning, related party lending and general security agreement.

The directors have not entered a plea.

The case continues.