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Chris McKeen/Stuff
Litiia Rokele Vuniduvu submitted 50 invoices to the Auckland Council-owned Ports of Auckland for work that had not been done.
A woman who took more than $360,000 from the Ports of Auckland, spending the money on clothes and herself, has failed to overturn her conviction.
Litiia Rokele Vuniduvu was sentenced to three years in prison and previously promised to pay the money back.
Vuniduvu appealed her conviction after being found guilty of 50 charges of dishonestly using documents.
The Court of Appeal ruled against Vuniduvu’s appeal saying no miscarriage of justice had occurred and there had been no prejudice to her defence at trial.
READ MORE:
* Ports of Auckland fraudster Litiia Rokele Vuniduvu sentenced to three years in prison
* Ports of Auckland fraudster to be released after serving half prison sentence
* Ports of Auckland fraud accused’s pay went from $16,500 a year to over $200,000
* Ports of Auckland: Fraud accused says she legitimately did the work
* Woman who scammed more than $350,000 from Ports of Auckland tried to cover tracks, court hears
Over three years, Vuniduvu and her partner Paul Bainbridge lodged invoices with Ports of Auckland for work that never took place.
In total they stole $368,842.50.
In sentencing, Judge Jonathan Down said while Bainbridge’s breach of trust was serious, Vuniduvu had set about trying to conceal the offending when the couple knew authorities were on to them.
THE EVIDENCE
Vuniduvu used the money she took from the Ports of Auckland and spent the money on clothes, travel and her Fiji-based business.
Evidence brought at trial showed Vuniduvu billed for work that was never carried out.
She submitted invoices to the port through Bainbridge.
Bainbridge headed up the IT department at the ports company, owned by Auckland Council, and oversaw a budget of $8.4 million.
Her lawyers argued Bainbridge was behind the scam, and that it was he who deceived the company and also deceived Vuniduvu.
But Vuniduvu played a central role.
The Crown’s case was Vuniduvu continually lied to authorities.
Vuniduvu started out billing the ports $400 a day but almost three years later, that figure had risen to $900 a day.
The invoices were explained as “research and consulting”, but the work was never done.
Of 644 emails between her and Bainbridge, only two vaguely related to work at the port.
But perhaps the strongest evidence, were messages from mobile phone app WeChat.
Vuniduvu told Bainbridge: “I knew you were not being careful enough.”
The Crown said those messages, sent soon after the pair learned investigators were looking into the scam, provided an insight into Vuniduvu’s state of mind.
Vuniduvu and Bainbridge began fabricating documents to make it seem Vuniduvu had been doing the work.
“I have to have enough work for the money paid,” another message said.
Vunidvuvu told Bainbridge she’d been reading up on the Crimes Act and the law around fraud.
“The only way to get out of this is to wreck [sic] my brain and study this s….”
Later she sent another message: “If they dig deep and get an order to study the laptops then we are f…ed.”
Bainbridge pleaded guilty for his part in the fraud and was sentenced to three years and one month in prison.
He has since been released on parole.
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