Sensible Sentencing Trust: 'White-collar criminals take note: you are in our sights'

See also: Rodney Hide's column on Rod Petricevic: Jail’s for treatment that fits the crime

The Sensible Sentencing Trust will appear in the Wellington High Court tomorrow in an attempt to have Bridgecorp fraudster Rod Petriceviec's parole reviewed.

The convicted fraudster is due for release on Monday, having served half of his six year, 10 month sentence. Sensible Sentencing Trust founder Garth McVicar said it was the trust's first such action in a white-collar crime case.

Mr McVicar said previously the organisation has stuck to action against violent crime but many of its supporters had been "boiling" over about white-collar crime for some time. The organisation runs on donations from ordinary people, some of whom have lost their life savings in the finance company collapses, he said.

"White-collar criminals take note: you are in our sights, right beside the aggravated robbers and the bashers," he said.

Petricevic was turned down twice by the Parole Board for failing to show any remorse and then released after a third hearing. Mr McVicar claims the only circumstance that changed in the last hearing was Petricevic, who he describes as "a snake in a suit," paying for a private psychologist to write a report saying he now felt remorse for his actions.

"That went uncontested by the board. We're concerned if an offender can simply get released by the Parole Board based on a report they have paid for, that is then not contested. It sets a dangerous precedent," Mr McVicar said. Many white-collar criminals are much worse than "the drug-addled idiot who sticks up a dairy for a few hundred dollars."

The High Court action is being prosecuted by lawyers acting pro bono, including lead counsel David Garrett, a former ACT MP.

Petricevic was convicted in 2010 of deliberately making false statements to trustees and distributing offer documents containing false statements while knowing Bridgecorp was heavily in debt. The failed finance company owed $459 million to 14,500 investors when it went into receivership in 2007 and investors have since been repaid about 10c in the dollar.

The 66-year-old told the parole board he would retire and had no intention of offering advice or being involved in any business after his release.

(BusinessDesk)