IHC $600,000 fraud accused hit by bus

A woman accused of ripping off $600,000 from IHC is in hospital after being run over by a Wellington bus just hours after police laid charges against her.

A 56-year-old woman was interviewed on Monday after the charity complained about financial discrepancies discovered during an internal audit. The woman was charged with several fraud-related offences, Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Borrell told The Dominion Post.

Later that day the woman was hit by a bus in the suburb of Berhampore. She was taken to Wellington Hospital in a serious but stable condition before being transferred to Hutt Hospital on Tuesday.

The IHC confirmed a former employee has been arrested for an alleged fraud worth around $600,000 - or about one fifth of the IHC's $3.1 million worth of fundraising in the last financial year.

The fraud was picked up by its financial systems and the charity said it would vigorously pursue recovering the money.

"We can assure our many generous supporters that this was an isolated incident. No other employee is under suspicion or investigation," communications manager Philippa Sellens said.

The IHC faces an $80m bill for back pay after the Employment Court ruled that it should pay workers more for sleeping overnight at clients' homes. The charity earlier said it had no money to pay.

- NZPA