Former Mighty River engineer sentenced to jail for fraud

Wednesday 25th May 2016

Two people have been sentenced after they committed fraud against electricity company Mighty River Power.

Paul Kenneth Rose and Jane Clare Rose were found guilty of obtaining by deception in March following a Serious Fraud Office prosecution.

Paul Rose was employed as an electrical engineer at MRP's gas-fired Southdown power station in Auckland, which closed last year. Part of his role was to identify the equipment required to be ordered, or services provided, for the operation of the plant.

Between 2006 and 2012, Rose set up companies in the name of Jane Rose, and in the name of a former partner, to conceal his connection to the companies, and then invoiced MRP from those companies to a total of $2.2 million, the SFO said in a statement.

Rose did not declare the conflict of interest and MRP was not aware of it, the SFO said.

Paul Rose was sentenced to three years and two months imprisonment, while Jane Rose, who helped him to send invoices to MRP from 2010 to 2012, was sentenced to nine months of home detention.

“We are pleased that our investigation and prosecution of these attempts to deliberately deceive an employer have been punished," SFO director Julie Read said. "Mighty River Power is a significant contributor to the New Zealand economy and the SFO places a great deal of importance on our contribution to maintaining the reputation of New Zealand as a safe place to do business.”

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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