Fraud admitted

A Phoenix Harcourts real estate agent has admitted a $150,000 fraud on property deals for a Selwyn District Council development. On Wednesday in the Christchurch District Court, Shirley Anne Johnston, 66, admitted one representative charge. Johnston’s partner, Steven Rolf Gubb, who was a property consultant for the Izone Industrial Park project in Rolleston, has already been jailed over the fraud. Gubb was employed to sell Izone land, leases, and design and build packages. Between March 2007 and July 2015, $300,828 was paid to Phoenix Harcourts as commission on 13 sales. Johnstone was paid $149,094 but did no work on any of the sales.