Fraudulent Winz case manager loses appeal

A former Work and Income New Zealand case manager has lost his appeal against sentence for benefit fraud.

Nguha Benjamin Moses was jailed in Christchurch District Court for four years for using a fake birth certificate to receive more than $100,000 in benefit payments for an imaginary person.

His lawyer Greg Trainor told the High Court the sentence was excessive because Moses immediately admitted his guilt and had paid back some of the money.

But Justice John Hanson rejected the appeal on the grounds of the length of the offending, the high level of premeditation, the amount stolen, and the damage to Winz and the public's confidence in it.

- NZPA