Husband and wife allegedly scammed Oranga Tamariki of more than $2m

A Christchurch couple allegedly scammed more than $2 million from Oranga Tamariki after the wife forged references to get a job at the agency and award building contracts to her husband’s company.

The alleged fraud spans 326 invoices over more than a year and includes nearly $800,000 of laundered money. Oranga Tamariki eventually noticed financial irregularities and alerted the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which laid charges. On Wednesday, Oranga Tamariki (OT) described the scale of the alleged offending as “significant”.

Amandeep Sharma and Neha Sharma are jointly charged with obtaining by deception and money laundering but only one of the pair – Amandeep Sharma – appeared in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday. He was remanded on strict bail conditions including surrendering all travel documents and remaining in New Zealand. Neha Sharma is in India, where she gave birth last week. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.

The SFO alleges Neha Sharma used fake references to secure a job as a property manager at OT, where she was responsible for maintenance to agency properties in Canterbury. She then set up her husband’s company – Divine Connection Ltd – as a contractor and assigned it work over other approved suppliers without declaring a conflict of interest.

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The 326 invoices were issued between July 2021 and October 2022 for work on numerous state care facilities, including the Te Puna Wai youth justice centre. The amounts range from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. According to court documents, OT made 103 payments to Divine Connection Ltd totalling $2,144,615.

Neha Sharma is also charged with forging a document in order to gain employment at OT. The SFO sought the warrant for her arrest, which was granted by Judge Brian Callaghan though he ordered that it lie in court until the next appearance date on July 26.

The pair is also charged with money laundering totalling $791,500. Court documents allege they transferred possession of the money to conceal its source via seven payments to accounts in India in April and May this year. In a statement, the SFO said the Police Asset Recovery Unit worked with Indian authorities to restrain the funds. Work was under way to return the money to New Zealand.

“We would like to acknowledge the Police and Indian authorities for their swift action and assistance in securing the defendants’ assets, as well as the co-operation of Oranga Tamariki in the investigation,” SFO director Karen Chang said.

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

“The allegations of obtaining money by deception and money laundering are for significant amounts.

“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.”