Former Maori All Black jailed for stealing pokie grant money

File photo / Christine Cornege

A former Maori All Black has been sentenced to two years and nine months in jail for theft of pokies' grant money.

Lindsay Raki was sentenced in the Auckland District Court today on 11 counts of theft totalling more than $300,000.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) said Raki's conviction followed an investigation into the distribution of pokie machine grants intended for the Manurewa High School Rugby Academy and Counties Manukau Youth Development Inc (CMYD).

Raki, a qualified accountant, was the Academy's financial controller.

Between 2006 and 2008 both the Rugby Academy and CMYD applied to a number of gambling societies for grant funding. The money was paid into Mr Raki's personal accounts and used by him personally, the DIA said.

Meanwhile, Jacob Samson was also sentenced to seven months' home detention after pleading guilty in the Manukau District Court to charges involving grant applications for more than $200,000 of pokie money.

Samson had pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining by deception and 11 charges of altering a document, DIA said.

Over six years Samson, who was chairman of Drums of the Pacific Trust and the Cook Islands Kia Orana Akapuanga Trust, altered receipts and bank statements in order to obtain pokies grants from 11 societies.