Fraudster’s KiwiSaver sought
Police are still trying to stop Ministry of Transport fraudster Joanne Harrison collecting $23,000 cashed up from her KiwiSaver account.
Harrison was deported back to the United Kingdom more than a year ago and applied to have some of her KiwiSaver funds paid to her on hardship grounds.
But police say the claim was dishonest, and it was always part of her plan to try to unlock her KiwiSaver to be able to repay family loans and retrain once she was released from prison.
She is fighting to have the $23,000 transferred to her. She said police had already recovered all the assets they could under the $784,172 criminal proceeds recovery order made against her.
That left $237,704.50 unpaid, but then police came to an agreement with a woman who received money as a result of Harrison’s fraud, that she would pay back $75,000, leaving a $162,704.50 shortfall.
The name of the woman was suppressed at the time of the settlement in August 2018, and no criminal charges were brought against her.
Harrison only learned of the settlement later and her lawyer says he was misled, but a lawyer for the commissioner of police said in the High Court at Wellington yesterday that the information was disclosed to Harrison’s lawyer, although some time later.
Harrison’s lawyer, Nathan Bourke, said Harrison accepted that she caused the $726,000 loss to the ministry but only $576,000 went to her and $150,000 went to the other woman.
If she had known that the commissioner was also taking action against someone else to recover money, Harrison could have tried to reduce the maximum recoverable from her, instead of allowing police to ‘‘double dip’’ and potentially obtain more than the loss that was caused.
He also noted that Harrison’s legal fees also came out of anything recovered from her.
For the police, Andrew Britton, said Harrison’s application to her KiwiSaver provider for release of some of her more than $110,000 on hardship grounds was dishonest, and the commissioner of police wanted to recover the debt owed to the people of New Zealand.
The $23,000 is being held pending a decision on whether it is forfeited to the Crown or paid to Harrison.
But Bourke and Esther Watt, a lawyer assisting the court, said the money was still KiwiSaver funds and did not become Harrison’s until she was paid it.
A judge has previously ruled that her KiwiSaver funds could not be cracked to repay the stolen money.
Watt and Bourke also argued police were limited to recovering the assets named in the court order that had already been made, and that did not include the KiwiSaver money.
Justice Cheryl Gwyn reserved her decision.