Man jailed for $5.7m fraud

A man was today jailed for fraud involving $5.7 million in which the victims included a bank, two high profile businessmen and three former Kiwis rugby league players.

Scott Alwyn Mackenzie, 29, who pleaded guilty to 10 charges of obtaining by deception, was handed a prison sentence of three years and eight months.

Mackenzie, who moved from Australia four years ago, was a property manager for Omara Property Group, owned by Hanover Finance directors Eric Watson and Mark Hotchin.

Over a 22-month period, he used 129 false invoices to get $1.6 million paid into three companies he incorporated.

He also used forged documents to obtain $3.6 million in loans from the Bank of New Zealand to buy six properties.

He further defrauded the Inland Revenue Department of $509,000 through false GST returns.

In Auckland District Court, Judge Ian Thomas said the offending could be classified only as serious commercial fraud.

He said Mackenzie paid back his employer $122,000 and the six properties had been sold, although for $780,000 less than their purchase price because of a downturn in the market.

That left a combined loss to the various parties of $2.8 million.

Judge Thomas accepted the Serious Fraud Office's submission of a starting point for sentencing of six years for charges that carry a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.

He gave Mackenzie discounts for his early guilty plea, his previous good character and other factors.

Earlier, defence counsel Chris Comeskey told the court that Mackenzie, who had a partner and a daughter, had wanted the money not to live the high life, but to provide security for his family.

Mr Comeskey said Mackenzie's father went out of his life at a young age and left him without money.

As a result, Mackenzie formed the view early on that financial insecurity should be avoided at all costs.

When Mackenzie pleaded guilty to the charges in August, the New Zealand Herald reported that nearly $140,000 of the false invoices were paid by a company in which former Kiwis Stacey Jones, Monty Betham and Awen Guttenbeil had an interest.

- NZPA