Police seize convicted fraudster’s home
Police have seized a Far North home owned by a former Far North District Council manager convicted of defrauding a government ministry of more than $700,000.
Joanne Harrison, who lived at Waimate North, was jailed for three years and seven months in 2017 after pleading guilty to misappropriating $726,836.07 from the Ministry of Transport.
Harrison, who was a general manager at the ministry at the time of the offending, previously held a senior management role at the Far North District Council from June 2007 to October 2008. The council maintains there was no indication of financial inconsistencies during her employment.
As well as the house, police asked the courts for forfeiture of cash, jewellery and a car belonging to Harrison and her husband Patrick Sharp. Those orders have been granted by the High Court in Wellington.
Police believe selling the assets will raise about $620,000, which will go towards recouping the ministry’s losses.
The property was forfeited under the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act following a three-year effort by the police Central Asset Recovery Unit. The head of the unit, Detective Senior Sergeant Brent Murray, said Harrison’s offending was “selfish and driven purely by greed and financial gain.”.
During sentencing the Serious Fraud Office said Harrison tried to prevent the seizure of her home by transferring it to Sharp’s name in the days after the fraud came to light.
Harrison, 52, was later also convicted of benefit fraud, being found to have falsified a wage slip to show she was earning $482 a week, so she could claim a domestic purposes benefit, when she was in fact earning $1842 a week as a manager at the Department of Corrections.
That offending, between December 2008 and April 2009, earned her an extra two months in jail.
Harrison was granted parole and deported to the UK at the end of last year.
Land records show she bought the 1.1ha Waimate North property in early 2008, when she was still working as the Far North District Council’s general manager for customer focus and culture.