Worker stole $150,000 from his boss

Five staff from the Manukau WINZ office have been fired after they accessed files on their friends and family. Photo / APN

A Hamilton sales assistant who stole almost $150,000 from his employer spent the money on a holiday to Australia, new jewellery, furniture and electrical appliances.

Paul Matthew Gregory pleaded guilty in the Hamilton District Court to two charges of accessing a computer system for dishonest purpose.

The court heard how in August 2008 Gregory, then a sales assistant at Henderson Rentals in Te Rapa, stole thousands of dollars every month from the company, a subsidiary of Hirepool.

The 31-year-old, who was entrusted with financial transactions and banking for the branch, used its Eftpos terminal to refund money from the company into his First Credit Union accounts via cashflow cards.

His first two fraudulent transactions in October 2008 totalled $819 but the next month Gregory stole more than $12,000, half of which was used to fund a holiday for himself, his wife and two children to Australia.

The biggest amount he took from the Hirepool account in one month was $22,250 in July 2009.

Almost $4500 was spent at a jewellery store and police said more than $51,500 was used to purchase "significant items".

In one instance, a customer refund of $254 was directed to Gregory's account instead of the customer's.

The total taken over 11 months was $149,182, but with his $45,000 salary and a Winz subsidy, Gregory netted $177,185 to September 2009, more than six times his usual household income.

Gregory hid the fraud by taking the daily totals listing from the Eftpos machine back to zero which meant that if the branch manager checked his work, there was no obvious discrepancies.

And differences between the company's bank statements and balances shown in its general ledger could not easily be attributed to a particular branch because its 56 branches operated from one bank account.

The dishonesty was uncovered in August 2009 when the financial controller for Hirepool found an anomaly with the banking at Hamilton which the branch manager could not explain.

Hirepool spent $3000 on a private investigator who discovered the fraud.

Gregory admitted the charges saying there was no real motivation for the offending when it started except that he had figured out a way to manipulate the system.

He said the money had been spent on general living and repaying some of his $20,000 debts which included $11,000 finance on a car and a student loan.

Gregory was fired in September 2009 and Hirepool has only managed to recover $1358 of holiday pay so far.

Hirepool chief executive Mark Powell was shocked and dismayed by Gregory's offending which had highlighted deficiencies within the company's systems.

"We're a network of small, typically close-knit business units and so it felt like quite a personal betrayal. And it was someone who was quite well known to me through the business."

Mr Powell said Gregory's crimes had repercussions for everyone at Hirepool.

"It challenges trust in the business and it certainly makes you manage the business differently which affects everybody.

"And then there's the financial implication."

He said Hirepool would seek reparation.

Gregory, who is to be sentenced on December 13, declined to comment.

HAND IN THE TILL
* Paul Gregory stole $150,000 from his employer.
* He spent the money on a holiday, jewellery, new furniture and electrical appliances.
* Only $1358 of holiday pay has been recovered so far.
* Gregory has pleaded guilty to two charges of accessing a computer system for dishonest purpose.