Petricevic plays dumb

UPDATE: 12.30pm: Rod Petricevic has told the Auckland High Court he knew nothing about Bridgecorp's missed investor payments until he read about it in the newspaper.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard evidence from Bridgecorp's internal auditor and risk manager Kulasinam Indrakumar, about missed investor payments.

Mr Petricevic told the court he had nothing to do with Mr Kumar personally.

No one in the organisation involved with investor services had told him about missed payments.

"I read of missed payments in the newspaper concerning these proceedings," he said.

If it had been bought to his attention he would have escalated his concern to a higher level.

"I'd certainly talk to the chairman and form a view of whether or not the trustee needed to be spoken to," he said.

Mr Petricevic denied being in a March 2007 meeting at which the court heard, from an earlier witness, it was decided that investors would be told missed payments were due to a computer glitch.

The former Bridgecorp MD painted a detailed picture of management life at the investment company; one in which he increasingly became detached from decision making and key meetings.

Apologetic Rodney Petricevic takes stand

10.30am: Rodney Petricevic apologised to investors when he took the stand at the Bridgecorp trial this morning.

It's the first time the trial, at Auckland High Court, has heard from Mr Petricievic - former managing director of the now collapsed Bridgecorp Holdings - who is this morning giving evidence in his defence on charges of misleading investors.

Opening the examination by his lawyer Charles Cato, Mr Petricievic, 62, chose to apologise to the 14,000 investors who lost $459 million- an average of about $33,000 each when Bridgecorp collapsed in June 2007.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to extend an apology to all investors for the grief and losses they had been conflicted with," he said.

"I believe we did everything, particularly in my instance, to repay investors and run the company."

He told the court he has no previous convictions for fraud.

Mr Petricevic, along with fellow directors Rob Roest and Peter Steigrad, has denied Financial Markets Authority charges he mislead investors in the company's 2006/2007 prospectus and associated fianncial statements.

Company chairman Bruce Nelson Davidson pleaded guilty last year to misleading investors adn was sentenced to home detention, ordered to do comunity work and ordered to make $500,000 reparation.

Fellow director Gary Urwin also pleaded guilty and is due to be sentenced in March.

Under examination from Mr Cato, Mr Petricevic is outlining the history of how he started Bridgceorp in the 1990s.