SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.
The prevalence of the crime of fraud in New Zealand society is one obvious symptom of moral corruption. Fraud Awareness Week kicked off yesterday. It is estimated that Kiwis lose $448 milion to scams each year. The SPCS supports all enforcement agencies that seek to crack down on all forms of fraud, including the Consumer Affairs Ministry that seeks to inform people how to avoid becoming victims of fraud.
Scammer’s Tricks
Some of the most prolific or highest-loss scams: [Read more…]
The total fraud alleged in the South Canterbury Finance (SCF) case is $1.7 billion, the same amount as the taxpayer bailout of the company.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed today it has laid 21 charges in the Timaru District Court against five people involved in the company’s affairs.
It wouldn’t name the individuals involved until the charges are heard before the court and any issues regarding suppression have been fully dealt with.
SFO boss Adam Feeley confirmed the total estimated value of the allegedly fraudulent transactions was about $1.7 billion, which includes an esimated $1.59 billion from entering the Crown Retail Deposits Guarantee Scheme.
South Canterbury collapsed in August 2010, eventually triggering a $1.7 billion taxpayer payout.
“The collapse of SCF was one the most significant of all the failed finance companies. The value of the fraud alleged to have been committed exceeds anything in the history of white-collar crime in New Zealand, and the time we have taken to complete this matter is a reflection of that scale,” Feeley said.
The SFO spent 14 months investigating the company and the charges it has laid cover a variety of offences, including theft by a person in a special relationship; obtaining by deception; false statements by the promoter of a company; and false accounting. The offences carry maximum penalties of between seven and ten years imprisonment.
“It is not appropriate at this point to comment on details of the allegations, but the investigation itself has been one of the most resource-intensive and time-consuming in recent history,” Feeley said.
For more see: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6101880/SFO-charges-five-in-South-Canterbury-Finance-probe Story by Fiona Rotherham. Published 7 December 2011
Jonathan Kirkpatrick, the former dean of Dunedin’s St Paul’s Cathedral and former partner of ex-Labour MP Tim Barnett, who was recently convicted for fraud, was sentenced today in the Auckland District Court to three years and two months jail.
Fairfax Media report:
A former manager at the Auckland University of Technology stole over $600,000 from his employer and frittered it away on a lavish lifestyle, flash cars and holidays, a court has heard.
Today his extravagance caught up with him.
Jonathan Kirkpatrick, 53, was sentenced to three years, two months’ imprisonment for the fraud in the Auckland District Court today for stealing $666,000 from AUT between 2002 and May this year.
Crown lawyer Rachael Reed said over eight and a half years, Kirkpatrick used over 82 invoices paid out to companies he set up to steal the hefty sum.
He was authorised in his role, as CEO of AUT’s business innovation centre, to issue invoices of up to $15,000 without supervision.
Reed said Kirkpatrick spent the money on top of his salary, which was $90,000 when he began at AUT in 2002 and rose to $150,000 by the time he resigned in July.
“This is a man who should have no need to steal but who obviously had taste beyond his salaried means,” she said.
Judge AA Sinclair said Kirkpatrick’s offending was motivated by greed. [Read more…]
A former AUT staff member has admitted defrauding the university of more than half a million dollars. Jonathan Kirkpatrick, 53, resigned as chief executive of the university’s Business Innovation Centre after an internal investigation found “accounting discrepencies” involving $665,000. He pleaded guilty to seven fraud related charges when he appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning. He’ll be sentenced on October 6.
His offending involved more than $665,000 taken from AUT between 2002 and May this year. Kirkpatrick is the former Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin and ex-partner of former Labour MP Tim Barnett. Kirkpatrick has a high profile as a gay-rights advocate within the church. His relationship with Mr Barnett, the former Christchurch Central MP, lasted 18 years.
After the Herald broke the news of the police investigation, AUT moved quickly to file legal action against Kirkpatrick in the High Court at Auckland.
Priest pleads guilty to AUT fraud. By Hayden Donnell.Wednesday 17 August 2011
See: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10745640&ref=rss [Read more…]
The former dean of Dunedin’s Anglican cathedral has admitted seven fraud charges involving $665,000 missing from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
Kirkpatrick is the former partner of former Labour MP Tim Barnett.
In 1996 he was made the 10th Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin, working with the country’s first female bishop, Penny Jamieson.
Wednesday, 17 Aug 2011 Otago Daily Times
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/173920/former-anglican-dean-admits-fraud
Jonathan Kirkpatrick pleaded guilty when he appeared in the Auckland District Court today and was remanded for sentence on October 6. [Read more…]