How Indian-origin couple, jailed for fraud in New Zealand, conned govt agency of Rs 10 Cr

According to a report by the NZ Herald, while, the woman, Neha Sharma, was handed a prison sentence of three years after pleading guilty to several fraud charges, including obtaining money by deception, money laundering, and using forged documents, her husband, Amandeep Sharma, has also pleaded guilty to charges of deception and money laundering. He will be sentenced in June.

Failed escape bid

When they realised that arrest was imminent, the couple had made a last-ditch effort by fleeing to Chennai in a business class flight. The decision to head for Chennai was taken soon after the New Zealand authorities started to tighten the noose over their fraudulent activity.

The couple was soon apprehended and brought back to New Zealand to face justice. At the time of their detention, the couple owned three properties, as many cars and had a whopping $800,000 (over Rs 4 crore) in cash across several of their joint accounts.

Also Read: CBI nabs five for sale of illegal SIM cards used in digital arrest scams

The fraud

Neha used to work as a property and facilities manager at Oranga Tamariki, and her husband ran a Christchurch-based construction company called Divine Connection. In gross violation of conflict of interest norms, Neha was instrumental in getting her husband’s company listed as one of the contractors for Oranga Tamariki.

Neha managed to keep her employer in the dark about her marriage with Amandeep, which allowed her to use her position in the organisation to assign over 200 maintenance jobs and issue 326 inflated invoices to Divine Connection between July 2021 and October 2022. This resulted in illegal benefits to her husband’s company. They even used the revenue gained from the illegal activity for their personal needs, including buying a television for their home.

Conflict of interest

Investigation revealed that not only did Neha join the organisation in 2021 by submitting fake job references, but also violated its strict conflict of interest norms by not disclosing her connection with Amandeep’s construction company.

The NZ Herald reported that days after Amandeep’s company was listed as a contractor for Oranga Tamariki, Neha texted him saying he should only say that he was working for her and not reveal that he was her husband, adding otherwise, “it will be a huge issue for me.”

Neha even brought a friend to help her illegally assign contracts to her husband’s company. Besides, she was also helping him in company works during office hours.

Also Read: UK court rejects Nirav Modi's fresh bail application: CBI

How the scam was unearthed

However, their luck ran out in October 2022, after one of Neha’s colleagues questioned the repeated awarding of contracts to the same company when others could also perform the task.

Oranga Tamariki smelled a rat when on November 2, 2022 Neha suddenly resigned via email, moments before she was scheduled to explain her actions in a meeting.

Within 20 minutes after her resignation, Amandeep was removed as Divine Connection's director and the company's address was changed, in an apparent attempt to cover up their tracks.

Also Read: Mumbai court issues non-bailable warrant against Mehul Choksi in loan fraud case

Property raided

New Zealand’s Serious Fraud Office swung into action and raided the couple’s property on March 30, 2023. According to media reports, during the raid, Neha told investigators that Divine Connection had been approved as a contractor for Oranga Tamariki before she joined the agency. Besides, she fraudulently claimed that she had disclosed the conflict of interest to her employers.

After the scam was busted, Oranga Tamariki enforced stricter regulations for internal controls and oversight to prevent such illegal acts in future.

"Corruption of this kind is utterly unacceptable. Oranga Tamariki takes any case of fraud extremely seriously, as shown by its actions once concerns were raised,” said Oranga Tamariki CEO Andrew Bridgman as quoted by the NZ Herald.