Blue Chip founder Mark Bryers – said by some to be the most hated man in New Zealand – may still escape jail after pleading guilty to 31 remaining criminal charges arising from the $173 million collapse of the Blue Chip empire.
Blue Chip founder Mark Bryers – said by some to be the most hated man in New Zealand – may still escape jail after pleading guilty to 31 remaining criminal charges arising from the $173 million collapse of the Blue Chip empire.
Bryers did not have to appear in the Auckland District Court today but his lawyers were told by Judge Patrick Treston he must be present for his sentencing in May. Bryers was remanded on bail.
Bryers pleaded guilty through lawyers to 31 remaining charges including Financial Reporting Act charges relating to failure to complete company documents.
He also admitted Companies Act charges relating to company mismanagement and failure to keep and file proper financial records.
Prosecutor Sam Wimsett said Bryers faced only one charge that provided a penalty of imprisonment but told the court the National Enforcement Unit of the Ministry of Economic Development would not be seeking a jail term. This relates to one charge of failure to attend a creditors' meeting.
The MED withdrew 38 charges which related to a number of failures to keep books and records. Since the charges were laid many of these documents have been found that the MED did not have access to before the charges were laid. They were therefore dropped today.
Bryers was bankrupted at the High Court at Auckland in October. He currently lives in Sydney. See the NBR's Q&A on the fall of Bryers here.
Charges;
Bryers was initially charged with 135 offences. The 31 charges Bryers plead guilty to will be joined with the three charges he plead guilty to in October 2009.
The 34 charges include failure to keep adequate company records, failure to keep records at a companies registered office, failure to attend a watershed meeting and failure to complete and sign financial statements within the given time frame.
Bryers pleaded guilty to 27 charges under the Financial Reporting Act. These relate to failures to complete and sign financial statements within the given time frame.
