A car dealer accused of defrauding dozens of customers insisted he intended to honour all deals and deliver all the vehicles.
Gwyn Meirion Roberts denies fraudulently taking cash and part-exchange vehicles for high-end cars that were never delivered.
The 50-year-old, of Dolgoed, Llandudno Junction, is standing trial at Caernarfon Crown Court accused of fraudulent trading and 24 charges of fraud.
Giving evidence in his defence, he repeatedly told the jury he fully intended to deliver the vehicles ordered by customers during the summer of 2015.
He said his efforts were thwarted when his company, Menai Vehicle Solutions, went into voluntary liquidation on October 2, 2015.
Asked by defence counsel John Philpotts if he had knowingly defrauded any of his customers, Roberts said: "Not at all."
When asked if he had acted dishonestly, he said: "No."
The court heard that, at the time of the firm's collapse, creditors were owed £1,308,879 and 50 customers were awaiting delivery of vehicles.
Roberts told the jury he set up the company at Parc Menai in Bangor and traded very successfully for a number of years, supplying new and used cars and small commercial vehicles.
He said he supplied vehicles to senior police officers and members of the judiciary, and all customers were said to be happy at the deals they were being offered.
The year before the company folded was "quite successful" with around 200 vehicles handed over to customers, said Roberts.
Sourcing vehicles of many makes and models, Roberts said he had a good working relationship with an Audi dealership in Preston.
The court heard he was ordering so many vehicles at one point that they supplied him with a company car.
But that relationship deteriorated and it ended in October 2014, the trial heard.
Roberts said that, at the end of 2014, the Pentraeth Automotive group was taken over by another company who were very aggressive. He said salesmen at the company were trying to undercut every deal he made.
He also said servicing costs were expensive and there were difficulties with a diesel emission scandal, which had a commercial impact on the business and made Roberts work harder to get the deals concluded.
During 2015, he suffered health problems and his father was diagnosed with cancer, which caused him concern, the court heard.
Roberts said the car trade business experienced “peaks and troughs” and he had been able to handle those in the past but, in 2015, he was “jumping at every deal” to weather the storm.
He said that, at the beginning of October 2015, he consulted a solicitor and was advised to close down.
On the following day, October 2, he contacted a liquidator in Liverpool and the company ceased trading.
Roberts said he was “devastated” at the closure of his company.
Asked by Mr Philpotts if he is wealthy, he said: "No."
Roberts said he has no assets and no income apart from sickness benefit, and has never smoked and doesn’t drink alocohol.
He told the court that he isn’t one to take holidays and lives with his partner in a rented house.
Explaining the various deals relating to the charges he faces, Roberts said he had intended to honour any outstanding deals when he went into liquidation.
The court heard that one of the customers who lost money was Anwen Williams, who asked Roberts to clear finance on the car she had bought from him.
She handed him a cheque for £28,442 which Roberts banked, but he did not pay off the amount, the trial heard.
Ms Williams said she contacted Roberts several weeks later to tell him she had received a notification from the finance company that she was in arrears.
Roberts told the jury he paid the arrears and maintained the account himself.
He said he was expecting a large VAT refund and sent a cheque to the company to coincide with that payment, but the cheque was not honoured.
Roberts said he was doing deals at a loss because he hoped to make a profit in the longer term by selling other vehicles to those customers, their businesses or their family members.
The trial continues.
