The Media Counsel (TMC), established in 2005, was paid by clients to place ads with organisations like TVNZ. After losing its industry accreditation, it entered into an agreement with another placement organisation, Aegis.
La Hood said that TMC would get client instructions to place the ads, Aegis would place the ad, the clients would pay Aegis and the remainder would go to TMC.
But the Crown says that TMC did not inform Aegis of a pre-existing arrangement it had with Marac Finance.
This arrangement, La Hood said, involved Marac lending money to TMC based on invoices issued to ad clients that the financier considered to be of good credit risk.
Under the deal, TMC would get cash and the amounts in the invoices would be payable by clients to Marac.
La Hood said that from November 2009 to January 2010, about $2.2 million of the amount invoiced by Aegis was paid to Marac instead of Aegis.
The Crown alleges that Wynyard provided untrue explanations as to why some clients were to pay Marac and not Aegis.
Wynyard's lawyer Rachael Reed said TMC had an informal relationship with Carat, an ad company owned by Aegis. Carat knew TMC was under financial pressure, Reed said, and about the agreement with Marac.
Reed said a cash flow crisis emerged on the eve of Christmas 2009 with TMC's debtors seeking to delay payment until after the New Year.
Marac calling up a security agreement in mid-December of that year prompted a "commercial tug of war between Marac and Carat with TMC and its clients stuck in the middle".
Reed said money was flowing in all directions.
She said the Crown was seeking to elevate a case where Wynyard paid one creditor instead of another into "something more sinister indeed".
Charges: Not guilty pleas
• 2 counts causing loss by
deception.
• 7 counts theft by a person in a special relationship.
• 4 counts of dishonestly using a document.
