Ill-health delays trial of Access Brokerage head

Peter Marshall. Ross Setford / Getty Images

The trial of former Access Brokerage chief executive Peter Marshall on fraud charges has been postponed again for health reasons.

Marshall, 60, was to have been tried in Wellington District Court next month on 15 charges related to the collapse of Access almost two years ago.

At a pre-trial hearing yesterday, which Marshall did not attend, the trial was postponed until April on medical grounds. The details have been suppressed.

Yesterday's hearing was to have been held last month but was postponed because Marshall suffered a series of strokes and was too ill to give instructions to his lawyers.

The Serious Fraud Office has charged him 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 said he became aware of problems when he took over as managing director in September 2004 when Marshall had surgery.