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Home / New Zealand

Charitable trust collapse: Hemo Thompson pleads guilty to a further 99 fraud charges

Natalie Akoorie
By Natalie Akoorie
Local Democracy Editor·NZ Herald·
1 Jun, 2018 04:02 AM3 mins to read

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The Raukura Waikato Social Services Trust, tasked with providing social services for the vulnerable in Huntly, was at the centre of a SFO investigation when it went into liquidation in March. Photo / Google

The Raukura Waikato Social Services Trust, tasked with providing social services for the vulnerable in Huntly, was at the centre of a SFO investigation when it went into liquidation in March. Photo / Google

The former financial manager of a taxpayer-funded social services trust that collapsed after she stole from it faces further dishonesty charges, taking the total theft to $175,000.

In March Hemo Kerewai Thompson pleaded guilty to defrauding the service of about $60,000.

Today in the Hamilton District Court she pleaded guilty to a further 99 charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office, all of them theft by a person in a special relationship.

The deception contributed to the liquidation of the charitable trust, tasked with providing social services for the vulnerable.

Raukura Waikato Social Services Trust [RWSS] was at the centre of a SFO investigation when it went into liquidation in March.

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Thompson pleaded guilty to the initial 68 charges on March 21, one of obtaining by deception and the other 67 theft by a person in a special relationship.

Today the SFO said the offending spanned four years when Hemo obtained funds from the trust between November 2010 to November 2014, disguising the activity as genuine expenditure.

The payments totalling about $175,000 of taxpayer money came in the form of deposits, and Thompson used the money for herself.

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Last year the trust was suspended for 60 days after a Ministry of Social Development [MSD] review revealed financial concerns.

It was later closed when police launched a separate inquiry over the concerns.

The SFO investigation into financial management practices came to a head in mid-March when trustees for the service applied to liquidate the trust.

A charitable trust based in Huntly, RWSS delivered social services in the Waikato region.

It had received funding from the Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Department of Corrections and Waikato District Health Board since 2008 for the provision of those services.

They included providing budgeting advice, whanau support, non-violence programmes and youth justice services under the Government's Whanau Ora scheme.

All but one of the total 166 charges were for theft by a person in a special relationship.

Thompson's lawyer Glenn Dixon said it was only because of his client's omission about a Credit Union account where she had made the deposits that gave rise to the extra 99 charges.

"She ultimately knew it would be discovered and wanted to deal with it in a principled way."

He said the 58-year-old wanted to apologise to the trustees of the former trust because they were essentially her employers, however she did not accept the trust collapsed solely because of her theft.

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"She doesn't believe it was the sole reason why the trust ended up in liquidation."

Dixon said Thompson had strong whanau support and he would ask for home detention at sentencing but accepted it was an unlikely outcome.

Judge Denise Clark took into account the fact Thompson was responsible for the daily care of several children when she granted her bail.

SFO director Julie Read said Thompson had control over the Raukura funds and knew the terms under which she was allowed to deal with that money.

"She intentionally departed from those terms to conduct this activity for her own personal benefit."

Thompson was granted bail to participate in a restorative justice meeting with the former trustees and would be sentenced on July 19.

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