Rogerson denies being drug 'money man'

Former detective Roger Rogerson has denied being the "money man" in an alleged drug plot that prosecutors say led to the shooting murder of a Sydney student.

Rogerson and another former policeman, Glen McNamara, are accused of killing 20-year-old drug dealer and Triad associate Jamie Gao in May 2014.

Rogerson has previously told the court McNamara said he would leave the garage door open "for safety" as he went to meet with Gao about a book he was writing.

But Rogerson told the pair's murder trial he didn't initially realise the door was closed, despite McNamara having stressed the importance of the detail.

"You knew it was closed because you knew Mr McNamara was in there with Mr Gao waiting for the money man to come," Crown Prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC said on Thursday.

"And, I suggest you were the man who was supposed to bring the money."

"Not as far as I knew," Rogerson replied.

Rogerson has told the court he thought Gao was an informant on Triads and that McNamara had asked him to act as a "lookout" while they met.

On Wednesday, the court heard he borrowed phones after helping McNamara move Mr Gao's body into McNamara's boat.

"You wanted to make calls to cover up, to talk to people about what they should say if they were approached by the police," Mr Maxwell QC told Rogerson on Thursday.

"The people I contacted, their numbers were traced anyway," Rogerson said after denying the claim.

He said he'd been having problems with the sound on his own mobile and the one he first borrowed wasn't much better.

Rogerson says he found Gao dead in the storage unit with a panicked McNamara, who told him the young man shot himself in a physical struggle.

Though he admits to helping move the body, Rogerson says he wasn't present when it was dumped days before being found out at sea by fishermen.

The crown alleges both men took 2.78kg of the drug ice from Mr Gao's body after the shooting.

The trial continues.