Wellington woman jailed for $2m fraud

A Wellington woman who plundered more than $2 million from her employer was today jailed for four years two months.

Janine Mary Johansson, 53, was sentenced at the Wellington District Court after she in April pleaded guilty to 63 fraud charges and one charge of money laundering.

Johansson made hundreds of unauthorised transactions from the accounts of an information technology company in her role as finance and administration manager. She worked for the company for nine years.

In September 2008, the company's general manager noticed "discrepancies" between profit margins and payments for contracted hours.

The company analysed transactions made between July 2003 and September 2008 and discovered 306 fraudulent transactions had been made using the company's computer programmes.

Johansson made false invoices in the name of an approved contractor to obtain $1,029,585.50, which she paid into her personal account.

She also made direct payments to her creditors, totalling $970,670.

The money was used for her children's education, two building projects and the setup and operation of a cafe business.

Johansson had paid money back into the company's accounts, but $1,165,100 was still outstanding.

- NZPA