Fraudster before Parole Board

A woman who fleeced the Ministry of Transport of $726,000 is due to appear before the Parole Board today.

Former senior manager Joanne Harrison was sentenced to three years and seven months in jail in February, after charges were laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Since her sentencing, she has spent just over one year and seven months behind bars.

When deciding whether she should be freed from jail, the Parole Board must be satisfied that she doesn’t pose an undue risk to the community.

The board will also have to consider whether she is likely to reoffend, and the nature and seriousness offending.

Her appearance before the board comes just days after details of a ministry-commissioned report were released, showing Harrison ‘‘groomed’’ her business partner, convincing the woman to front two fake companies and shred invoices while an investigation into Harrison’s actions was under way.

The ministry-commissioned investigation also found the partner received 30 per cent of the stolen monies, but was never charged.

Investigation head Peter Churchman QC found Harrison also ‘‘groomed’’ another ministry employee who tried to interfere in the fraud investigation and remove items from Harrison’s office.

Harrison’s offending led to auditorgeneral of any subsequent Martin Matthews quitting his job in August this year, just hours before a damning report into the fraud committed under his watch was released.

The SFO’s investigation was triggered after ministry management uncovered ‘‘financial discrepancies’’ linked to Harrison, also known as Joanne Sharp.

She used bogus invoices and fake names to pay three entities in a theft spree spanning 31⁄2 years.

The SFO said Harrison’s offending took place between November 2012 and March last year. Once an investigation was launched in July last year, Harrison left New Zealand bound for Canada.

A month later, she voluntarily returned to New Zealand and was taken into custody at Auckland International Airport.