Five Star directors in court

Neill Williams. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Former Five Star directors Marcus MacDonald and Neill Williams are due to appear in the Auckland District Court today without their colleagues Nicholas Kirk and Anthony Bowden, who pleaded guilty to Companies Office charges last month.

Kirk and Bowden will be sentenced next week.

The Companies Office case for MacDonald and Williams is set down for trial on October 26 and is expected to last up to a month.

The Companies Office laid criminal charges against the directors under the Securities Act and Financial Reporting Act. The charges relate to allegedly false and misleading information in investment statements and the company's 2006 registered prospectus.

MacDonald and Williams have pleaded not guilty.

All four directors were banned by the Registrar of Companies from holding board or management positions in New Zealand for five years from April last year.

When the largest company in the group, Five Star Consumer Finance, collapsed in August 2007, it owed $63 million, of which $54.43 million was owed to debenture holders.