Two Indian-origin men sentenced for fraud in New Zealand

Two Indian-origin men have been sentenced by a New Zealand court for defrauding a city council in Aukland of more than USD 676,855 over a decade.
Hemant Kumar Maharaj and Suresh Din were sentenced after they appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday for sentencing after being found guilty in June of charges including using a document with intent to defraud and dishonestly using a document.
Maharaj was also convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Maharaj was jailed for two years and 10 months and Din was sentenced 10 months' home detention and 350 hours of community service following a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prosecution.

The charges were laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in September 2010, alleging the pair were involved in a corrupt scheme within the North Shore City Council, New Zealand Herald reported.
Judge Charles Blackie said Maharaj, who was employed by the council, arranged for Din, his friend, to submit invoices to him for road and berm maintenance work that was never completed.

After the invoices were submitted, Maharaj would sign off the work and forward the invoice for payment. The money was paid by the council to Din, and the pair shared the profits.
They used 151 invoices in their scheme, with Din submitting them under the name of the S Din Family Trust.

It was not "particularly sophisticated offending", but it was not detected for 10 years, Judge Blackie said.
"You were a public official and clearly abused the trust your superiors put in you ... And also the community puts in you," he told Maharaj.
The passage of time since the offending started meant it was difficult to work out exactly how much had been taken, but it was thought to be more than 829,000 New Zealand dollars (USD 676,855).
The men had been ordered to pay about 145,000 New Zealand dollars in reparation, which Din had and Maharaj was in the process of getting.

Both were first-time offenders and "of previous good character".