A man who admitted poaching potential clients from the Wellington corporate travel agency he worked for has been given community service.
Timothy Kevin Bignall, 34, appeared for sentencing at Wellington District Court today after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of obtaining by deception.
Judge Mike Behrens ordered Bignall pay no more reparation to his former employers after already repaying more than $179,000.
"What you did was devious and dishonest,'' said Judge Behrens before offering Bignall reduced community work if he undertook community detention also.
Bignall declined and was sentenced to 200 hours' community service.
The court was told that personal bank records showed that on about 36 occasions between November 13, 2009 and December 5, 2011, Bignall arranged clients' travel and created invoices using Orbit Travel's letterhead without authority.
He changed the payment details on the invoices to his personal bank account.
On receiving the invoice money, Bignall paid for services such as hotel rooms and meals with his personal credit card. He kept the balance as commission.
The gross amount of the bookings was $992,753 and the total net profit between 9 and 22 per cent of that.
Last September, Bignall's employers discovered sales were lower than normal, leading to his admission that he had made bookings with the intention of poaching their potential clients.
Bignall repaid $179,389.67 in commissions and ended up being out of pocket himself, Judge Behrens was told.
He was left holding responsibility for the $205,000 cost of a Rugby World Cup tour some South African clients did not pay for.
His commission was included in the sum he handed over in a settlement to Orbit Travel on The Terrace in Wellington, where he had worked for 14 years.
Defence lawyer Bryan Yeoman said Bignall was now trying to sue the South Africans for the commission.
Judge Behrens told Bignall at his May appearance, "they aren't likely to pay - they lost''.
Mr Yeoman said Bignall had been "completely up front'' with his employers but "regrettably'' they later handed the information to police and a charge was laid late last year.
Nobody was out of pocket except his client, Mr Yeoman said.
Bignall was supported in court by his wife and mother. He declined to comment afterwards.