Jailed Nathans directors appeal sentences

The two former Nathans Finance directors jailed last month have appealed their sentences.

Lawyers for Kenneth Roger Moses and Mervyn Ian Doolan told the Court of Appeal in Wellington yesterday that the sentences given to their clients by Justice Paul Heath at the Auckland High Court in September were not warranted.

The jail terms followed a 13-week trial that found Moses, Doolan and fellow Nathans director Donald Menzies Young guilty of lying to thousands of out-of pocket investors about a Nathans prospectus aimed at raising $100 million from the public.

Fellow Nathans director John Hotchin pleaded guilty before the trial and assisted the prosecution, in exchange for a reduced sentence, while Young was given home detention.

Moses' lawyer, Paul Davison QC, told the Court of Appeal that the two years, two months sentence his client received was excessive, as the criminality of his client's behaviour warranted a lower starting point in sentencing.

Mr Davison said Moses spoke out the loudest of the four directors charged over the finance company's failure when it came to concerns about inter-company lending from Nathans to its parent company, Vending Technologies. Moses did his best to keep that issue before the Nathans board, he said.

If it was good enough for Justice Heath to sentence Young to home detention, then his client should have received a similar sentence, Mr Davison said.

It was a point echoed by Doolan's lawyer, Chris Tennet. Doolan was sentenced to two years, four months.

Mr Tennet said if the three men were guilty, then it made no sense for one to be given home detention, while the other two were jailed.

He said there would be no disparity in sentencing people involved in a robbery if one was a lookout and another was the getaway driver, despite the lookout doing comparatively less.

With that in mind, Young was equally as culpable as Doolan.

The Crown's lawyer, Brian Dickey, rejected claims the sentences were excessive.

Mr Dickey said if anything, the sentencing starting points were light and the discounts given to the two men by Justice Heath were generous.

He pointed out that Justice Heath, in his sentencing notes, said he considered Young the least culpable of the three on trail, which was why he received a lessor sentence.

The court reserved its decision.