One year home detention for over $77,000 of fraudulent Wage Subsidy applications

Brent Ayton, 59, was sentenced in the Porirua District Court after earlier pleading guilty to two representative charges of dishonest use of a document.

In total Ayton applied for over $77,000 using fraudulent applications.

He applied for subsidies as a sole trader and claimed for an additional five employees.

These claims were found to all be fraudulent as Ayton was not a sole trader and had no employees at the time of the applications.

The first representative charge of dishonest use of a document covered eight wage subsidy applications which resulted in $28,496.80 being deposited into his bank accounts.

The second representative charge covered another 26 applications totalling $49,085.40 which were declined.

Reparation of $28,496.80 were also granted.

During sentencing, Judge Ian Carter said a sentence of home detention was appropriate so Ayton could continue to work and repay the money.

A total of  49 people have been sentenced in wage subsidy cases, and another  53 people are still before the courts as part of MSD’s programme of work on wage subsidy fraud and integrity. Since the scheme started, more than $830 million* in wage subsidies has been repaid. For more information about the Wage Subsidy Integrity and Fraud Programme please see here. 

*Figures at 30 June