Failed Dunedin financial adviser Barry Kloogh faces 12 charges

Barry Kloogh did not enter a plea and was remanded on bail until March 12. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Failed financial adviser Barry Kloogh has appeared in Dunedin District Court this morning on 12 charges.

Kloogh did not enter a plea this morning and was remanded on bail until March 12.

He was ordered to surrender his passport, not contact investors, and to remain at his bail address.

He was in court, as were several former clients.

Kloogh, a former financial adviser, was the former owner and operator of two companies, Financial Planning Ltd and Impact Enterprises Ltd, which failed spectacularly last year, at the cost of millions of dollars to investors.

Both companies are now in liquidation, with the official assignee's first report estimating that more than 170 clients were owed between $12 million and $14 million.

In November Kloogh told the Otago Daily Times he ''felt deeply'' for those affected by the demise of his firms, and that he was ''very aware of the pain, anguish and hurt that I have caused''.

Former clients reacted angrily to his attempt at contrition; one called it "crocodile tears and pathetic excuses'' and another said they felt angrier now than when the companies failed in July.

Kloogh had been under investigation by the SFO since May, when the organisation excecuted search warrants at his home and business premises.

In September the Financial Markets Authority cancelled Kloogh's authorisation to act as a financial adviser.