Accountant stole $600K from clients

Seven years of forgery and fraud with $606,380 of other people's money has earned a former accountant two years and three months in jail - and the sentence has upset some of his elderly victims.

John William Tanner, 65, of Paraparaumu, had pleaded guilty to 26 Serious Fraud Office charges of fraudulently using documents, forging audit reports, money laundering, omitting material from financial statements and theft by failing to account. Tanner was the accountant for the Petone United Friendly Society (PUFS), made up of five friendly societies, the Hiberian Society, Court Epuni, the Independent Order of Rechabites, Manchester Unity and the United Order of Druids.

In the Wellington District Court yesterday, Judge Bridget Mackintosh said Tanner had made unauthorised loans to himself, attributed lost money to others' accounts, forged reports to the PUFS board, altered bank statements and failed to invest money.

"You stole from clients and set about concealing it," she said.

Tanner has managed to repay about half his victims.

Judge Mackintosh said Tanner had lived a productive life until his offending, and had made considerable contributions to his community.

She said it was hard to fathom why he had got himself into such a situation. Tanner had attributed his offending to one difficult client he was loyal to. The client overspent and left Tanner to pay the debts.

Tanner is taking civil action against the client. Judge Mackintosh said Tanner's victims were "absolutely devastated" by his breach of trust.

She ordered him to pay $25,000 reparation of the outstanding $310,000 once he was freed.

Defence lawyer Andrew Davie read out a statement from Tanner in which he apologised for causing considerable hurt, not only to his victims but to his wife and family.

However, that failed to placate some of Tanner's elderly victims, five of whom walked angrily out of court because the sound system was not turned up enough for them to catch what the judge said.

They were even more annoyed later outside court when told that Tanner had been jailed for two years and three months.

"It's totally inadequate - we were thinking he was going to get six years - and they usually only serve a third of that," said 74-year-old Druids member Bob Foster of Stokes Valley.

Maitland Shand, 82, of Belmont, who calculates he has lost around $10,000 because of Tanner's offending, was also angry.

"I don't think much of it - why didn't they just smack him on the hand and say you've been a naughty boy?"


- NZPA