A senior council employee and a roading contractor allegedly lavished travel and long lunches to a large number of public servants that "created a propensity for, and a culture tolerant of, corruption", the High Court at Auckland heard.

The claims came from Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey opening the trial of Murray Noone and Stephen Borlase who face rare charges of corrupting public officials through bribery.

Noone is a former senior manger with Rodney District Council and, later, Auckland Transport. He faces six charges of receiving bribes from Borlase totalling $1.1 million.

Borlase is the principal of contracting firm Projenz, who faces eight charge of bribing Noone and other council staff, and also four charges of inflating invoices to cover the cost of his offending.

The pair this morning formally recorded their pleas of not guilty and they are expected to mount a vigourous defence of the charges during the seven week judge-alone trial before Justice Sally Fitzgerald.

In his opening, Dickey produced a November 2007 email from Borlase written to a Projenz administrator requesting that details of travel and accommodation provided by the company to public officials not be sent to council email addresses.

"We needed to protect ourselves and the recipient from wandering eyes," Borlase wrote.

Dickey argued the extent of the alleged corruption stretched beyond the defendants and included beneits for a large number of council staff.

He argued the duo's action had "created a propensity for, and a culture tolerant of, corruption", citing long lunches at city eateries including The French Cafe and extensive spending on liquor, travel and entertainment.

Dickey said other council staff would give evidence that the culture of gratuity on trial was extensive.

"The total paid to council staff paid to do their job went vastly beyond what could be called a legitimate business expense. Those employees were compromised by the gifts they accepted," he said.

Dickey said Noone had a prexisting relationship with Borlase and Projenz before joining RDC in 2005 in a position paying a $165,000 annual salary.

Dickey said the financial relationship continued while Noone was employed as a public offical with invoices regularly submitted to Projenz for "consulting" work. These invoices saw Noone's public salary increased by around $8500 a month - but Dickey said they were a sham.

"There is no evidence Noone provided any consulting services to Projenz," he said.

Dickey said Borlase covered the costs these invoices, as well as the travel and entertainment expense of public officials by dishonestly inflating Projenz's invoices to councils.

"In effect RDC was paying the bribes of its own officials," he said.

The trial continues.