Indian Couple Convicted of Fraud Against New Zealand Child Welfare Agency

An Indian couple has been convicted of defrauding Oranga Tamariki, New Zealand’s child welfare agency, with the total amount exceeding $2 million (over Rs 10 trillion).

Neha Sharma received a three-year prison sentence after admitting to several fraud-related offenses, including deception, money laundering, and using forged documents. Her spouse, Amandeep Sharma, also pleaded guilty to related charges. Reports suggest that the couple’s fraudulent activities were extensive.

Before their arrest, they made a swift exit to Chennai on a business class flight, just as authorities began scrutinizing them. However, their escape was brief; they were quickly apprehended during the investigation. At that time, the duo owned three properties and had close to $800,000 in cash (over Rs 4 trillion) in their joint accounts.

Neha worked at Oranga Tamariki as a real estate and facility manager, while Amandeep operated a construction firm called Divine Connection. Their fraudulent scheme took shape about eight months after his company was contracted.

Interestingly, no one at the agency knew they were married, allowing Neha to manipulate over 200 maintenance tasks and inflate 326 invoices between July 2021 and October 2022. She exploited her access to benefit her husband’s company, using some of the funds for personal expenditures, such as purchasing new televisions.

Neha joined the agency in 2021 with fabricated job references. Despite Oranga Tamariki’s strict conflict of interest policies, she never disclosed her marriage to Amandeep, who served as her supervisor.

In one text message, Neha instructed Amandeep, “I just say you’re working for me. He shouldn’t know you’re my husband… it’s going to be a big problem for me.”

Neha was not only facilitating payments but also directing additional work to Divine Connections through her role at the agency. During business hours, she heavily involved herself in the operations of her husband’s company.

The fraudulent activities began unraveling in October 2022 when colleagues noted the repetitive assignments sent to the same contractor. On November 2, as Neha was set to discuss these irregularities, she abruptly resigned via email, claiming she was being unfairly targeted and refusing to meet for further discussion.

Shortly after her resignation, within 20 minutes, Amandeep was removed from his position at Divine Connection, and the company address was changed, which appeared to be an obvious attempt to evade detection.

Authorities executed a raid on March 30, 2023. During this operation, Neha claimed that Divine Connection had been approved prior to her joining Oranga Tamariki, but these assertions were later disproven with evidence.

In response to this case, Oranga Tamariki has implemented stronger internal controls and oversight to prevent similar misconduct. CEO Andrew Bridgeman remarked, “This kind of corruption is completely unacceptable. Oranga Tamariki takes the fraud case very seriously, as evidenced by our actions following the concerns raised.”