Convicted former Bridgecorp director Rod Petricevic has been jailed for 6 and a half years.



This month Petricevic was convicted on 18 Crimes, Companies and Securities Act charges of including misleading statements in an investment prospectus, with the former charges carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.



Justice Geoffrey Venning said he did not believe Petricevic showed true remorse for his actions in the collapse of Bridgecorp in which 14,500 investors lost $490 million.

"You have said you are remorseful but also maintain your innocence.



"You may be sorry investors lost their money but that is not true remorse - you apparently still consider you did nothing wrong."



Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey earlier said Petricevic's offending was "cynical".



"Not only was the prisoner prepared to distribute the untrue statements or lies through offer documents ... but he also led, together with others in the senior management of Bridgecorp, a collective conspiratorial view that investors be lied to when they rang in [to complain]."



Dickey was referring to the "computer glitch" lie which Bridgecorp staff were instructed to relay to investors who called asking why their interest payments were late.



Petricevic had not shown the kind of remorse that the court could consider as a mitigating factor, said Dickey.



"It is difficult to see how remorse can be a substantial factor when he has maintained his innocence right up until now ... it's not genuine remorse."



Justice Geoffrey Venning said Petricevic's feeling was nearer regret for the loss of money than remorse.



Dickey also said testimony towards Petricevic's good character, mainly from family and close friends, was "unremarkable".



"It is really a subjective analysis of him as a family person and as a friend, and that is entirely unremarkable for a prisoner before the court."



Petricevic's lawyer Charles Cato said his client's time already served in prison had been "a very sobering experience", and he asked for the mercy of the court.



Cato said Petricevic had no relevant previous convictions and had been the subject of "exceptional" actions at the hands of the public and media.



"Although some of the attention was deserved and understandable ... some of the other actions of people in the community have been exceptional, and made the position of this family, at times, one that is intolerable.



"He's received serious threats and on one occasion was assaulted.



"Aside from a game of golf, almost weekly, and an association with a few close friends, he's been reluctant to associate with the wider community."

New Zealand Shareholders' Association chairman John Hawkins said the association was pleased the court had taken a much harder line in the Petricevic case "where there was clear knowledge and cynical disregard for the rights and obligations towards investors".



The courts were not willing to go soft on people who knowingly and recklessly disregarded the law, he said.



"We expect there may be a few other people who are fairly nervous about the outcome of this."

Bridgecorp collapsed into receivership in July 2007 owing $490 million to 14,500 investors.



Petricevic and fellow former directors, Rob Roest and Peter Steigrad were convicted in the High Court earlier this month on Crimes and Securities Act charges of misleading investors. Roest and Steigrad will be sentenced on May 18.



Two other Bridgecorp directors, Gary Urwin and Bruce Davidson, gave early guilty pleas in the case. Urwin was sentenced to two years in prison while Davidson was ordered to complete nine months of home detention, 200 hours of community work, and payment of $500,000 reparation.



The Serious Fraud Office has also laid charges relating to some Bridgecorp transactions. These are scheduled to be heard in September.