In Christchurch, New Zealand, an Indian -origin couple have been found guilty of cheating more than US $ 2 million (about Rs 17 crore) from a government company. According to the report of New Zealand Herald, on May 16, Amandeep Sharma accepted the blame in the court and now he will be sentenced in June.
Earlier this month, his wife Neha Sharma was convicted on many allegations like fraud, money laundering and use of fake documents and has been sentenced to three years in jail.
How to scam of crores
The government company Oranga Tamariki paid a total of 103 payments to Amandeep’s construction company Divine Connection between July 2021 and October 2022 based on 326 bills. The total amount of these payments was around US $ 2.15 million.
Neha Sharma got the job of property manager in 2021 on the basis of fake experience certificates in Oranga Tamariki. During this time, she got the government tender to her husband’s company and issued 91 work orders themselves. Other orders were made by his friends or colleagues who were not aware of their relations with her husband.
For a time, no one came to know that Neha and Amandeep are husband and wife. At the same time, the company’s address also matched Neha’s residential address. When the company was suspicious and internal investigation was started, Neha quit the job and soon Amandeep was removed from the post of director of the company and the address was also changed.
Try to escape
At the time of raiding by the investigating agency Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the couple found three property, three cars and about 8 lakh US dollars in cash in their bank accounts. A few days later, the couple booked unilateral tickets in business class from Singapore Airlines to Chennai (India) and left New Zealand on 14 April with 80 kg of goods. Before he left for India, he tried to sell his assets, settle cars and transfer around $ 8 million to Indian bank accounts.
Investigation revealed that this money was transferred from Amandeep’s Bank of India account to seven different accounts of India.
Ban on assets and cooperation in investigation
The Christchurch High Court has also ordered the couple’s assets and the sale of sales. SFO director Karen Chang has thanked the police and Indian officials for the help of which the assets of the accused were confiscated.
Neha’s cleaning and current situation
Neha’s lawyer claimed in the court that he committed the crime in the event of “baby brain”, but it was said by the government that he neither showed any regret nor offered to return compensation. Currently, Neha is lodged with her newborn child in jail, while the big child of the couple is with Amandeep’s sister in India.