Former council manager jailed for accepting bribes, awarding contracts to friends

Serious Fraud Office director Karen Chang said the crimes of a former council manager caught taking cash bribes to award contracts to his friends reflects the harm caused by corruption.

A corrupt former council manager caught taking cash bribes in exchange for helping associates secure lucrative contracts has been jailed for what the Serious Fraud Office describes as an “insidious crime”.

Former Westland District Council assets manager Vivek Goel was sentenced to three years and eight months’ imprisonment in the Christchurch High Court on Wednesday for the fraud.

He was earlier found guilty of 14 charges of corruption and bribery of an official, four charges of corrupt use of official information, and two charges of obtaining by deception following an eight-week trial in December last year.

The Serious Fraud Office [SFO] said the severe nature of the offending resulted in its investigators undertaking some of the most complex analysis on a case to date.

Goel’s associate Amar Singh, who paid $70,000 in bribes for being awarded asset management contracts valued at almost $500,000, was sentenced to three years and seven months’ imprisonment.

Singh went to trial alongside Goel and was found guilty of 14 charges of corruption and bribery of an official, one charge of obtaining by deception and obstructing an SFO investigation.

In a statement released after they were sentenced, SFO director Karen Chang called the sentence an appropriate reflection of the serious nature of the pair’s actions.

“Corruption is an insidious crime which is incredibly corrosive if left unchecked. It is important we send a clear message that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated in our society,” Chang said.

Goel gave advice, shared confidential information and helped draft tenders to ensure a number of contracts were awarded to companies run by people he had relationships with outside of work.

Goel’s offending included awarding a contract to build a $7 million wastewater treatment plant at Franz Josef to Techno Economic Services NZ, a company run by a cake decorator with no experience in engineering or water treatment plants.

The cake decorator, Neha Bubna, was a family friend of Goel and pleaded guilty to a charge of obtaining by deception ahead of trial.

She was sentenced to 10 months of home detention last month, with the possibility of deportation.

Chang said these “critical” infrastructure projects had implications for the health and wellbeing of the West Coast community.

“This investigation involved some of the most technically complex forensic analysis we’ve undertaken and the skill of our forensics team was absolutely crucial,” she said.

“Our electronic forensic investigators, forensic accountants, and investigators analysed significant amounts of evidence to unravel this complex offending.”

“As New Zealand prepares to rebuild following the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, this is a timely reminder of the importance of having clear internal controls in place around procurement, understanding the forms corruption can take, and recognising red flags.

“Our Counter Fraud Centre will continue to work with the public sector to offer support in this area and the SFO will continue to take cases which threaten the wellbeing of New Zealanders.”