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Ex-Director Denies $185k Fraud

| Fraud

A former finance company director has denied fraudulently obtaining $185,000 from an elderly couple in Northland.

The man, who has name suppression, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of theft by person in a special relationship and a two-day judge-alone trial started in the Whangarei District Court yesterday.

The Crown indicated to Judge Greg Davis it did not wish to proceed with two charges of obtaining by deception which were earlier laid.

In court yesterday, one of the two complainants took the stand and said she and her husband lent $185,000 for the man to arrange the purchase of a property in Northland in 2007. However, she said they discovered no purchase had been made when the couple checked on the property and discovered it was put up for auction.

Defence lawyer Eric Forster asked the woman questions about the accounts she and her husband managed.

The defendant is expected to give evidence today.

We have helped hundreds of companies deal with workplace crime from embezzlement to office burglaries. Our team has the experience to know what to look for and how to get to the bottom of a business crime issue.

Whether you have suspicions of intellectual property theft by a departing staff member or notice discrepancies in your stock take, we help you uncover the facts. Our investigations deliver the proof you need to make informed decisions on what action to take.

Employment case law allows an employer to make a decision based on a full and fair investigation, and on the balance of the probabilities.  This is where The Investigators Investigations comes in.

It is advisable to carry out all steps of the fair investigative process before you report a suspected staff member to police. Otherwise, if police decide not to prosecute, any later decision to ask a staff member to leave could be problematic.

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- Article originally on nzherald.co.nz.

Article by: Mike Gillam, Senior Investigator