Auckland Woman Convicted of False Carer Claims

Auckland Woman Convicted of Making False Carer Support Claims

Janine McEwan of Auckland was sentenced in the North Shore District Court last week to six months community detention with a curfew to her residential address between 7pm and 7 am daily. She was also sentenced to nine months supervision with a motivational programme and drug and alcohol programmes to be attended under direction of the probation service.

Ms McEwan was ordered to pay reparation of $26,539.50 to the Ministry of Health for making false claims for carer support for her child.

She pleaded guilty to nine charges of using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage and 15 charges of dishonestly using a document. The offending took place between August 2000 and September 2009, during which time Janine McEwan made false claims to the value of $26,539 for payment for carer support for her child.

Carer support is a subsidy funded by the Ministry of Health and District Health Boards. The payments are designed to assist the unpaid full time carer of a person with a disability to take a break from caring for that person.

Janine McEwan named five people as having provided carer support and sought reimbursement for the payment she said she had made to each one of them. Some of the claims sought payment for care which was allegedly provided to her child in Auckland, when the child was resident in Nelson. Other claims were for care that did not take place or for care that was provided by fictitious people. When questioned by a Ministry of Health investigator, she admitted that the claims were fraudulent.

Michael Moore, National Risk Manager of the Audit & Compliance Unit of the Ministry of Health, said such offending diverted funds from families who have a real need for carer support.

“This conviction shows that fraudulent claims will not be tolerated. There are monitoring and audit processes in place and where we suspect the misuse of funds, we will investigate and prosecute to ensure that the offenders are brought to justice”.

"If people choose to make false claims and forge documents in order to steal money earmarked for health services, they can expect to be caught and punished accordingly," Michael Moore said.

"One of the features of our monitoring system is a Fraud Hot Line for anyone who suspects the misuse of health funding and we welcome phone calls on 0800 424 888”.

ENDS

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