Ill health delays fraud trial

Peter Marshall

Former Access Brokerage chief executive Peter Marshall's trial on fraud charges has been postponed after he suffered a series of strokes.

Marshall, 60, of Silverstream in the Hutt Valley, was to have appeared in Wellington District Court yesterday for a pre-trial arguments hearing related to 15 fraud charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office related to the collapse of Access almost two years ago.

SFO prosecutor Gus Andre-Wiltens said as a result of the strokes just over a week ago, Marshall was too ill to give instructions to his lawyers.

The pre-trial hearing will now take place on September 4 and the trial will begin on October 9.

The SFO has charged Marshall with 14 counts of false accounting and one of intent to obtain by deception.

Discount brokerage Access, majority owned by Bill Garlick, was wound up in late 2004 leaving clients $5 million out of pocket. That money has since been repaid, largely by the BNZ which has, in turn, launched a legal bid to recover that from sharemarket operator NZX.

It is alleged that Marshall, a former Barclays and Westpac bank employee, used client funds to prop up Access for some years.

Garlick has said he only became aware of problems when he took over as managing director in September 2004 when Marshall had surgery.