A former school administrator has been sentenced to home detention after defrauding a Māori immersion school of approximately $250,000.
Kim Symes, 51, of Auckland was sentenced to 10 months of home detention and 150 hours of community work in the Manukau District Court after six fraud charges were brought against her by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
She had worked at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o te Tonga o Hokianga as a support staff administrator at the school on a part-time basis from April 2006 to July 2017.
In a statement released today, the SFO said Ms Symes pleaded guilty in September to charges of obtaining by deception, using forged documents and four charges of dishonestly using a document.
The charges relate to 293 individual transactions and 27 forged documents.
In her role, Ms Symes maintained the financial records and had full access to the school’s bank accounts and accounting records. Her responsibilities included preparing monthly financial reports, paying accounts, preparing financial information for audit, keeping accurate financial books and managing staff salary and payroll issues.
The Director of the SFO, Julie Read, said, “The SFO is committed to preventing public sector fraud and corruption through investigating and prosecuting the misuse of public funds.
"Ms Symes stole public funds to support her lifestyle, which included a gambling habit. There was a significant breach of trust, resulting in government-funded education resources being diverted away from the Kura’s students.”
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