Fraudster who fiddled firm's payroll escapes prison

Mark Benjamin is the former CFO of Excell Corporation Limited. Photo / Supplied

An Auckland financial expert who manipulated a company payroll to give himself a $10,000 pay rise has escaped a jail sentence.

Mark Joseph Benjamin, a 45-year-old chartered accountant, was convicted of seven fraud charges after a judge-alone trial in the Auckland District Court last month.

He was earlier fighting to keep his name suppressed, but this was rejected on appeal by the High Court.

Judge David Wilson, QC, yesterday sentenced Benjamin to 200 hours of community work.

Benjamin was on the board of taxpayer-funded HortResearch, a Crown Research Institute, and was involved with the now defunct Auckland Regional Transport Authority.

In January 2006, Benjamin was hired as the chief financial officer for bulk food importer Kerry NZ. He negotiated for a salary of $180,000 but settled at $165,000.

But months later, at the same time two colleagues received pay increases, Benjamin lifted his own pay to $175,000.

He did this by tampering with the computer payroll system, so that if anyone checked, it would show the $165,000 annual salary he was entitled to.

In June 2006, Benjamin took five days annual leave. But he gave himself the holiday pay on top of his monthly salary, effectively another $3500.

The following month, he took another five days leave.

This time he reduced his monthly pay, but still on the basis of the bogus $175,000 salary - gaining an extra $1120.

Then when Benjamin left Kerry NZ in August 2006, he failed to deduct the 10 days of leave - another overpayment of $10,709.

It was nearly two years before the fraud was discovered, and police laid seven fraud charges in July 2008.

The officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Marty Laagland, said the police had alerted the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants to consider Benjamin's future.

"I think it's a fair sentence bearing in mind his actions have probably ended his career," he said.

"I don't think a bigger sentence would achieve anything."