A former Housing New Zealand employee has been sent to prison for a year for accepting bribes totalling $57,000.
Paul Joseph Graham, aged 42, had admitted accepting three bribes in his official capacity as a field overseer for Housing New Zealand during 1995 and 1998.
In the Auckland District Court yesterday, Judge Barbara Morris said Graham's role involved receiving tenders for drainage and maintenance work and awarding that work to contractors.
During that time, one drainage company carried out $1.9 million of work for Housing New Zealand, mostly on an uncontested basis.
The names of the drainage company and its owner are suppressed pending ongoing court action.
Judge Morris said Graham received $11,000 and two cheques made out to a car company and a boat shop totalling $46,000 in return for awarding work to the drainage contractor.
Judge Morris said Graham was "sadly enough" a 42-year-old with a young family who had never offended before, who was supplementing his income rather than acting out of greed.
However, Graham was an entrusted official of the Crown who had the power to create advantage for some and disadvantage to others.
The large amount of money involved and the time span of the offending led Judge Morris to conclude that Graham's offending was a "concerted course of planned deception.
"There must be a message sent to you and to others that this conduct will be met with a stern sentence," Judge Morris said.
Counsel for the Serious Fraud Office, Kerry White, said Graham's offending showed complete dishonesty by an official in a position of trust and power over 1 1/2 years. The charges went to the heart of the integrity of the public service system.
For Graham, Grant Illingworth, said the charges had financially gutted Graham's family. He had been forced to sell his home and faced paying $50,000 in penalty payments to Inland Revenue for failing to declare his correct income.
Mr Illingworth said Graham was ignorant of his legal position in accepting the bribes as an official and became greedy.
Jail for taking $57,000 in bribes
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.