National Finance 2000 Limited Directors Prosecuted

The Companies Office has laid criminal charges in the Auckland District Court against Trevor Allan Ludlow, Anthony David Banbrook and Carol Anne Braithwaite, the Directors of National Finance 2000 Limited.

“The charges relate to untrue statements in the company’s registered prospectus and failure to comply with financial reporting standards” said Registrar of Companies Neville Harris.

The prosecution is being carried out by the National Enforcement Unit of the Companies Office.

The Serious Fraud Office is also conducting a separate investigation into National Finance 2000 Ltd, and the agencies have been liaising closely as appropriate.

The defendants are due to appear on Thursday the 23rd of October 2008 in the Auckland District Court.

Mr Harris said the case was now before the Court and it would not be appropriate to comment further.

Ends…
 

The Directors of National Finance 2000 Limited (in receivership and liquidation) are charged under the Financial Reporting Act 1993 for their failure to disclose material transactions between National Finance 2000 Limited and related parties.

The Directors are further charged under the Securities Act 1978 for stating that they had made proper and adequate provisioning for bad debts and that loans were secured by general security agreements when this was not the case.

Trevor Allan Ludlow additionally faces charges under the Financial Reporting Act 1993 for making false or misleading statements in relation to bad debt provisioning, related party lending and general security agreements.

Penalties

If convicted on the Securities Act charges, the directors are liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding $300,000.

If convicted on the Financial Reporting Act charges, the directors are liable to a fine not exceeding $100,000.

Trevor Allan Ludlow is further liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding $200,000 for the additional charges that he faces.
 

National Finance 2000 Limited

National Finance 2000 Limited went into receivership on the 10th of May 2006. The receivers estimate that around $24 million is owed to members of the public and that the likely recovery for secured investors will be approximately 47% to 48% of their investments. Unfortunately, subordinated investors and other unsecured creditors are unlikely to recover anything from the receivership.