Hamilton woman's alleged $1.8m fraud: further suppression granted

The Hamilton woman entered a not guilty plea but her lawyer, Tom Sutcliffe, said he would like to resolve the matter.

A Hamilton woman accused of defrauding a business of nearly $2 million has entered not guilty pleas to her charges.

The 41-year-old reappeared before Judge Jonathon Down in the Hamilton District Court this morning where, through her lawyer Tom Sutcliffe, she entered not guilty pleas to five charges of obtaining by deception causing a loss to a business totalling $1.837.742.

However, Sutcliffe indicated that his client was keen to resolve the case and he would now engage in talks with the crown to talk about the quantum of the alleged theft.

He also successfully applied for further interim name suppression for his client from Judge Down who then suppressed the reasons around the accused's application.

The alleged offending details are; $422,595.09 between February 1, 2018 and June 30 2018, $271,218.64 between July 1 2018 and December 31 2018, $363,059.28 between January 1 2019 and March 31 2019, $550,113.59 between April 1 2019 and June 30 2019 and $230,757.80 between July 1 2019 and September 3 2019.

The charges have a maximum penalty of seven years' prison.

The accused was remanded on further bail by Judge Down for a case review hearing in April.

Conditions of her bail include not to associate with both witnesses and co-offenders, reside at home, to surrender her passport and not to apply for any international travel.

Another woman has also been jointly charged.