Pair allegedly defrauded Oranga Tamariki of over $2.1 million

A Christchurch pair have been charged with defrauding Oranga Tamariki of over $2.1 million.

Amandeep Sharma and Neha Sharma are jointly charged with obtaining by deception and money laundering.

The charges relate to 103 payments totalling $2,144,615 made by Oranga Tamariki to Divine Connection Ltd according to court documents – a company with Amandeep Sharma listed as its sole director.

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The payments were made in relation to 326 invoices allegedly issued to Oranga Tamariki by the company between July 2021 and October 2022.

Neha Sharma is also charged with forging a document in order to gain employment at Oranga Tamariki as a property facilities manager.

Neha Sharma is still in India having given birth in the past week, defence counsel Craig Ruane told the court.

The Serious Fraud Office sought a warrant for Neha Sharma’s arrest. Judge Brian Callaghan granted the warrant but ordered that it lie in court until the next appearance date on July 26.

Amandeep Sharma appeared in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday. He was was remanded on bail, and ordered to surrender all travel documents and not to leave New Zealand.

A list of alleged invoices submitted to Oranga Tamariki from Divine Connection Ltd, which Stuff has seen, lists various property addresses across Christchurch with monetary figures ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars beside each property.

The addresses include Te Puna Wai youth justice facility and other state care facilities.

Oranga Tamariki then approved and paid Divine Connection based on the invoices, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) alleges.

The pair are also charged with money laundering in respect of $791,500 of the money they allegedly illegally obtained. Court documents allege they transferred possession of the money and sent it outside of New Zealand through seven payments made in April and May of this year.

On April 12, a $99,000 transferral was made, followed by five payments of $98,500 the following day, and another $200,000 transferral on May 4 in order to conceal the source, location or ownership of the funds, the documents allege.

The particulars of the obtaining by deception charge for both defendants allege that they failed to disclose Neha Sharma’s conflict of interest in relation to Divine Connection with intent to deceive Oranga Tamariki.

The SFO has laid the charges.

The companies’ office shows that Divine Connection is overdue in filing its annual return and will soon be removed from the register.

In a statement, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Chappie Te Kani said the organisation took any case of potential fraud “extremely seriously”.

“I am deeply disappointed that this has happened. Oranga Tamariki stands on its integrity and the delivery of services to tamariki and whānau.

“Our focus now is to continue working alongside the SFO to ensure justice is served. We are also working closely with the relevant authorities to recover the funds for the New Zealand taxpayer.”