Indian-origin couple defrauds New Zealand govt of over USD 2 mn
Melbourne, May 20 (PTI): An Indian-origin couple has been found guilty of defrauding a government company for over USD 2 million in Christchurch in New Zealand.
On May 16, Amandeep Sharma pleaded guilty and will now be sentenced in June, the New Zealand Herald said.
Earlier in the month, his wife Neha Sharma was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to a series of charges including obtaining by deception, money laundering and using a forged document, the newspaper said.
The government company Oranga Tamariki made 103 payments to Amandeep's company, Divine Connection, between July 2021 and October 2022 against 326 invoices, newsportal thepress.co.nz said, adding, the total of these payments was just shy of USD 2.15 million.
The New Zealand Herald described in detail how the couple carried out the fraud and quoted Oranga Tamariki chief executive Andrew Bridgman as saying that as soon as concerns were raised by his company in November 2022, an internal investigation was undertaken and then the case was referred to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) resulting in the prosecution.
Neha started a job as property manager at Oranga Tamariki in 2021 after forging written references from her previous job at the Ministry of Education in New Zealand. As part of her agreement, she had signed a code of conduct that included clauses to avoid conflicts of interest.
Yet, in her official capacity, she enlisted her husband Amandeep's construction company Divine Connection in the system to do jobs such as maintenance and upkeep of properties etc.
“Of the 203 jobs recorded as being assigned to Divine Connection in LogIT, 91 were created by Neha Sharma herself, 64 were created by the helpdesk and 20 were created by the friend. The remainder appeared to have been created by other Facilities Management Officer (FMO),” the New Zealand Herald said.
“No one knew about their marriage until after they’d conned the government agency out of more than USD 2 million,” the newspaper added.
Among the red flags were Amandeep's company was registered in the same address as Neha's residential address. When Oranga Tamariki started an internal investigation and confronted Neha, she quit her job. In no time, Amandeep's name was removed as director of the company, its address changed. Neha even joined another company.
When the SFO came raiding, the couple owned three properties and three cars; they also had about USD 8,00,000 in cash in their joint bank accounts.
“Less than two weeks after the SFO knocked on their front door, the couple booked two one-way tickets flying business class on Singapore Airlines to Chennai, India. The trip seemed strange since the couple had a busy schedule ahead in Christchurch, including pregnancy,” the newspaper said.
“The couple boarded their flight on April 14, with 80 kgs of luggage between them and before leaving, they attempted to liquidate their properties and cars and transferred just under USD 8,00,000 in cash from their bank accounts to accounts held in India,” the newspaper said, adding, the SFO investigation revealed that the concealed funds were transferred from Amandeep‘s Bank of India account to seven other bank accounts based in India.
The High Court in Christchurch also made restraining orders in relation to the properties and sale proceeds.
Quoting SFO director Karen Chang, thepress.co.nz said: “We would like to acknowledge the police and Indian authorities for their swift action and assistance in securing the defendant’s assets.”
On Friday, Neha's lawyer said that she blamed the offending on baby brain, the Crown said, there was no evidence of remorse or offer of reparation.
She is now in prison with her baby while the couple's older child is back in India with Amandeep's sister.
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MP: Woman, lover conspire to get husband killed; police looking for contract killer
Dhar (MP) (PTI): A 25-year-old woman and her lover have been arrested in the district for allegedly conspiring to kill her husband by hiring a contract killer, police said on Thursday.
The case was solved within 36 hours of the murder though the woman initially tried to mislead the police by claiming that robbers killed her husband, an official said.
Dev Krishna Purohit (28) was stabbed to death on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday at his house in Gondikheda Charan village, about 60 km from here.
Superintendent of Police Mayank Awasthi told reporters that accused Priyanka Purohit (25) was married to Dev Krishna when she was around 15 years old. Priyanka moved to her matrimonial home after attaining adulthood but was unwilling to live with her husband, leading to frequent disputes between them.
During investigation, it emerged that she was in a relationship with Kamlesh (32), the SP said.
The duo allegedly hatched a plan to kill Dev Krishna and hired a man identified as Surendra for Rs 1 lakh do the job, he said
After Dev Krishna was killed, Priyanka told police that unidentified persons broke into the house, attacked her husband with a sharp weapon while holding her captive in another room, and fled with valuables.
But the inconsistencies in her statements raised suspicion, and eventually she confessed to hatching the murder conspiracy, the SP said.
While she and Kamlesh were arrested, police are looking for the contract killer, the official added.
