Five Star director Bowden avoids jail

File photo

Former Five Star Finance director Anthony Bowden has been sentenced to nine months' home detention and 300 hours' community work on Securities Act charges in the Auckland District Court this morning.

Most of the criminal charges the directors face carry a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment or fines of up to $300,000.

Five Star was placed into receivership on 29 August 2007 owing investors about $46 million.

The Companies Office laid the criminal charges against Kirk, Bowden, MacDonald and Williams in July, 2008.

The charges relate to securities being offered and allotted to members of the public without a registered prospectus, investment statement or trustee appointed.

According to the Companies Office, MacDonald and Kirk were on the board of Five Star Debenture Nominee, in liquidation, and MacDonald, Kirk and Bowden were also on the board of Five Star Consumer Finance, in receivership.

All four directors were banned in April 2009 by the Registrar of Companies from holding board or management positions in New Zealand companies for five years.

In August the Serious Fraud Office announced it had laid more than 100 charges against the four concerning related party lending that took place between 2003 and 2007.

It was alleged they acted dishonestly and breached obligations under the trust deed.

"For investors to have confidence in the financial markets they need to know there will be quick and effective intervention by a law enforcement agency with the powers and resources to deal with serious and complex fraud," Serious Fraud Office chief executive Adam Feeley said in a statement at the time.

"Investigations of the scale and complexity of Five Star Finance require detailed forensic accounting analysis which inevitably takes time," he said.

- NZ HERALD ONLINE