Ex-board chairman sentenced for fraud

Former Te Kura o Te Whakarewarewa Board of Trustees chairman John Newton has been sentenced to home detention and community work for fraud.
The Rotorua man, who owns his own construction company, created fake documents and sent them to the Ministry of Education so his company could be awarded $285,000 to carry out building upgrades at the school.
Newton, 48, appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday for sentencing on three charges of obtaining by deception, relating to building work at the primary school in 2005.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges.
Judge Weir sentenced Newton to nine months home detention, 200 hours community work and ordered him to pay $10,000 reparation within 28 days.
Newton has always maintained he faked the documents to ensure the work was done at the school quicker to benefit the children.
 Outside the court, Newton said if he could go back in time, he would follow proper protocol.
Lawyer Brian Foote said despite invoices for the work totalling $285,000, the actual amount that went to benefit Newton was around $19,000.
He said his client intended to benefit the children and the school with a minimal gain to himself.
Mr Foote said other mitigating factors included his lack of previous convictions and his otherwise "superb" character that saw him being an excellent mentor in the community and father.
Prosecutor Shane Walsh said what Newton did was a major breach of trust.
In 2005, Newton was the school's board of trustees chairman and the sole owner and director of Newbac, a construction and consultancy company.
Between 2004 and 2005, Te Kura o Te Whakarewarewa started a number of building projects including upgrades to the ablution, junior and administration blocks.

Newton supplied the Ministry of Education with documents and claimed the board had decided to go with a firm called Form Design Construction.
The ministry accepted the decision and the $285,384.62 contract for the three projects was awarded.
However, Newton's company carried out the work.
The Education Act states that anyone with financial interests can't be a board trustee.
Newton told The Daily Post he thought the outcome was fair and he was looking forward to moving on.
 He said the court process had been "very stressful" for his business and his family and he was glad it was all over.
In hindsight, Newton said he would follow the rules and reveal the conflict of interest.
"I guess I have to be careful in how far I go in helping people."