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A woman was sentenced in the Auckland District Court on November 9, 2016 for a fraud she committed against her long-term employee.
Teremoana Kimiangatau pleaded guilty in July this year to committing fraud against Auckland International Airport Limited to the value of approximately $1.8 million.
She faced three representative charges of ‘Obtaining by deception’ and has received a sentence of three years and two months’ imprisonment.
Ms Kimiangatau had worked at the Auckland International Airport for 18 years.
She was dismissed from this role in February 2016.
Her matter was referred to Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Illegal transfers
The SFO investigation into Mrs Kimiangatau found that she had transferred funds from the Auckland International Airport Limited bank account to her own account.
She had facilitated this by changing client bank account numbers to her own within the airport’s accounting system.
Judge Bergseng described Ms Kimiangatau’s offending as ‘A serious breach of trust.’
SFO Chief Executive Julie Read said, “After many years of honest employment, Ms Kimiangatau let both herself and her employer down by committing this crime. In a position to see weaknesses in the system, she chose to take advantage of them rather than to see that they were remedied. There is no excuse for that. All employees have a responsibility to ensure that they adhere to processes.”
Auckland International Airport Limited referred the matter to the SFO in February 2016.
Source: Serious Fraud Office
