Access Brokerage chief in court

Peter Marshall

The managing director of failed sharebroking company Access Brokerage, Peter Marshall, appeared briefly yesterday in the Wellington District Court.

Judge Susan Thomas remanded him to February 27 for a two-week depositions hearing.

Marshall, 59, faces 13 charges of false accounting with intent to defraud and two of knowingly making false statements in accounts to deceive or cause loss.

He was charged after Access collapsed last September with a shortfall of $5 million in client funds. The company was owned by former Olympic Games chief Bill Garlick.

Investigations into Access were delayed for several months by Marshall's health. He said yesterday that his health had improved.

A report by liquidators Ferrier Hodgson said Access had been run on client funds for some time, creating a shortfall in its client trust account.

The report also said Access suffered accounting discrepancies dating back to at least June 1998, and that expenses were understated and assets overstated in the firm's ledgers and management accounts.

Sharemarket co-regulators NZX Discipline and the Securities Commission are investigating events surrounding the collapse of the firm.

The Access collapse cost sharemarket company NZX $344,000 in the six months to June, on top of $500,000 last year. NZX expects these costs to mount.

Ferrier Hodgson has yet to indicate whether it will pursue NZX over the collapse.