An Auckland High Court jury was warned not to be scared or "creeped out" by "financial lingo" during the trial of National Finance director Carol Braithwaite.
Ms Braithwaite - who has denied misleading investors - is the first finance company director to be tried by a judge and jury
Crown lawyer Stephen Symon told the jury there would be a lot of financial lingo to absorb as the Crown set out to prove that Ms Braithwaite had made untrue statements in a National Finance prospectus document, seeking money from the public.
"Words such as 'prospectus', 'subordinated debt' and 'auditors' may make you feel a little bit "creeped out", Mr Simon said.
"But it's not that scary and not that hard. Your common sense will help you along."
In order to successfuly prosecute Ms Braithwaite, the Crown needed to prove she misled investors by signing a prospectus with at least one unture statement in it, he said.
However, he told the jury there was not just one untrue statement, but ten.
Ms Braithwaite signed up to be a director, and was paid as a director, so she had the obligations of a director to ensure the prospectus was correct, he said.
"If she had done her job that she signed up to do, she would have seen a lot of these things were untrue," said Mr Symon.
Justice Pamela Andrews told jurors although they they may have read about other trials involving finance company directors, or invested their own money in a finance company, they were to approach Ms Braithwaite's trial on the evidence presented at this trial alone.
"You are to approach your task as jurors objectively, dispassionate and without prejudice," she said..
The Crown will call eight witnesses in the two-week trial. It is not known if Ms Braithwaite will give evidence.
Proceeding.
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Braithwaite jury not to be "creeped out" by "finance lingo" - lawyer CHECKED AND READY TO GO SOONEST
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