Hiring lover costs former manager

Hiring his lover as a contractor and paying fake invoices to fund an overseas jaunt has led to a former council manager being ordered to pay more than $40,000.

The Dominion Post reported Katuni Tilialo was a senior manager with the Auckland Regional Council and authorised to spend up to $50,000.

The Employment Relations Authority yesterday released a determination which said Tilialo commissioned a woman he was having an extra-marital affair with to work on a customer service charter, despite her lacking experience.

He paid her $9000 for a job his boss had thought would cost $500.

She was paid in instalments, to a charitable trust she was a trustee of, and the money was then transferred to the woman's credit card. It was spent in the United States, on a trip with Tilialo.

"It is difficult to avoid an inference of dishonesty in that conduct," the authority said.

The authority found Tilialo, who quit in March last year, had breached obligations of trust and duty to his employer and awarded the council about $44,000 in damages and legal costs.

- NZPA