Indian-origin couple defrauds New Zealand govt of over USD 2 million

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 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 kg 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.