Morehu-Barlow would tell friends he was a Tahitian prince before his arrest in December 2011. Photo / supplied
Morehu-Barlow would tell friends he was a Tahitian prince before his arrest in December 2011. Photo / supplied
A Kiwi fraudster who claimed to be a Tahitian prince is being kept in a Brisbane jail two years after his deportation date.
New Zealand-born Joel Morehu-Barlow defrauded his employer Queensland Health of almost $17 million, and is currently costing Australian taxpayers thousands of dollars because he is considered an "unacceptable risk" to be released to New Zealand, according to a Daily Mail report.
A spokesman for Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said he did not have the information or confirmation details to comment, but believed the decision not to release him was made by the parole board and not the New Zealand Government.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said it could not confirm details of an individual case.
"It is a matter for Australian state and territory parole boards to determine prisoners' eligibility for parole," a ministry spokesman said.
Morehu-Barlow was jailed in Australia in 2013. Photo / Supplied
Morehu-Barlow, born in New Zealand on February 13, 1975, would tell friends and colleagues he was a Tahitian prince before his arrest in 2011.
Over four years, he manipulated the health department grants system and had large sums paid purportedly to a business he set up, but which actually went to his personal bank account.
He used the money on designer clothes, parties, holidays and a collection of gaudy belongings including a crown and items with fake royal crests.
Morehu-Barlow told friends he worked only because his parents would stop his large allowance otherwise.
He was handed a 14-year jail sentence in 2013 with parole eligibility in December 2016.
Items seized from him, including dozens from his favourite designer label Louis Vuitton, artwork and designer alcohol, were auctioned in Brisbane for Queensland Health.
Authorities there claim they have recovered about $11.88m, according to the Daily Mail.
But Morehu-Barlow still owed the state an increased amount of $11.6m due to more than $50,000 of interest accumulating each month.
It was reported that since becoming eligible for parole, he has cost Australian taxpayers almost $130,000 while remaining locked up in Wolston Jail.
Deception began early
Hohepa Morehu-Barlow was a fraudster long before he moved to Australia and started stealing from Queensland Health.
In New Zealand in 1998, he was still known as Joseph Barlow, the name he grew up with.
It was about this time he was dragged before a court for stealing almost $32,000 from his employer, a charge that brought him a suspended eight-month jail term.
The next year he changed his name to Hohepa, the Maori equivalent of Joseph, and hyphenated his surname to include his father's family name.
This would be his identity for a new life in Australia.
He moved across the Tasman in the early 2000s but it wasn't until 2007 that he started work for Queensland Health.
Over four years he managed to fleece the state Government of more than $16 million. But his lies began before he was even employed.
On his CV, Morehu-Barlow claimed to have a high-ranking law degree from Victoria University of Wellington, a qualification that landed him on the path to becoming a senior finance manager.
After his arrest, police found the degree never existed. Morehu-Barlow had started a bachelor of commerce but never completed it.
Nevertheless, once ensconced at Queensland Health he set up a fake business and forged documents, including letters under the state health minister's hand, to legitimise the transfer of state funds to his personal account.
He forged more documents for the largest, and last, of his 62 fraudulent payments, purportedly for a dental building at a Queensland university.
His lies were discovered after a mid-level manager suspicious of the large amount involved searched for information about the business and found Morehu-Barlow was the director.
In court, his lawyer David Shepherd said Morehu-Barlow felt he could have been caught at any time.
"That behaviour can be seen as compulsive and self-destructive rather than the desire to have money."
But Judge Kerry O'Brien described Morehu-Barlow's offending as an "audacious scheme ... to obtain an opulent and extravagant lifestyle [and] a way for you to ingratiate yourself to other people. Your dishonesty only ceased with police involvement."
Rich tally
Many of the items seized from Hopeha Morehu-Barlow's home were auctioned in Brisbane this month. They included dozens of items from his favoured designer, Louis Vuitton.
There were 15 business shirts, 28 ties, 30 pairs of shoes, four suits, five jackets, one fur-like collar, one dinner coat, one vest and one bathrobe.
The list of Louis Vuitton accessories included 26 scarves (one made of fox fur), nine cufflinks and a wallet, embossed with HRH.
Morehu-Barlow lived an extravagant lifestyle. Photo / Supplied
From the same designer he had six overnight bags, three sports bags, three satchels, four towels, an umbrella, business card holder, laptop bag and iPad holder.
He bought art, designer alcohol, including vintage champagne, and a signed All Black jersey.
Other belongings up for sale included 22 sets of rosary beads, nine antique robots, three iPhones, a Hermes saddle, a Whitney Houston 2010 tour book and an iPod engraved with HRH Hohepa Morehu-Barlow.
The auction raised more than $1 million for Queensland Health.
Rise and fall 1975 - Born, the oldest of six children, grew up in Thames 1993 - Graduated from Thames High School 1996 to 2001 - Victoria University of Wellington 2001 - Moved to Australia 2005 - Started work at Queensland Health 2008 - Began defrauding the health department of A$5m 2011- Forged documents to have A$11m transferred into his bank account Dec 2011 - Arrested after hiding from police for two days 2013 - Pleads guilty to biggest fraud so far on Queensland Government and sentenced to 14 years' jail Dec 2016 - Eligible for parole
