Concrete business ‘wrecked’ by fraud
The owner of a Christchurch concrete company nearly ‘‘wrecked’’ by an employee fraud says he will go after the employee in the civil court.
Steve Duff, the owner of Canterbury Concrete Cutting NZ Ltd (trading as Concut), said he was unhappy with the sentence imposed on the offender and believed the court did not have the full facts.
Lindsay Ian Cresswell, 28, pleaded guilty on September 14 to stealing about $115,000 from Concut and was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention.
He was given credit for starting his own business, Innovative Driveways Christchurch, and employing five people.
Cresswell blamed a gambling problem and provided a letter dated January 2015 from the Christchurch Casino showing he requested self-exclusion.
The offending entailed manipulating the firm’s computer system in a way that was difficult to detect.
After sentencing, Cresswell repaid $115,000 to Concut.
However, Duff said Cresswell’s offending cost the company about $500,000 and that Cresswell started his business while he was employed by Concut.
He would soon file papers seeking about $500,000 from Cresswell in a civil action.
At a time when the company should have been making good money in a buoyant market, Cresswell had essentially sabotaged the business, Duff said.
‘‘Ever since we have struggled. He was employed to price work and was telling clients Concut was too busy but had another company that could do it.
One company gave him $400,000 of work before it realised what was going on.’’
He alleged Cresswell had emailed a customer list to his home address and an associated party had begun contacting Concut customers before he left the business.
Duff said he was discouraged from putting the full story in his victim impact statement to keep things simple.
‘‘I feel the court did not have all the facts. I’ve lost faith in the justice system.
It doesn’t leave a good taste in your mouth. I don’t think it’s a fair system.’’
Cresswell had come close to destroying the company’s reputation, Duff said.
He had invoiced customers but had ‘‘thrown numbers around’’.
‘‘Imagine how hard it was to collect the money. Plus, he was doing cash jobs and got his own people to do parts of jobs. It goes on and on.’’
Cresswell said Duff’s claims were untrue and he would be defending any civil action.
He said he had fully repaid Concut for the cost of his offending.