A former school administrator has been sentenced to 10 months of home detention and 150 hours of community work for defrauding a Māori immersion school of approximately $250,000. Kim Symes (51) of Auckland was also ordered to pay $5000 in reparation.

Ms Symes was sentenced today in the Manukau District Court on six fraud charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office. 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.

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o te Tonga o Hokianga employed Ms Symes as a support staff administrator for 11 years from April 2006 to July 2017. In this role, the defendant was responsible for the core financial duties for the school. She was responsible for ensuring the school’s expenditure was supported by purchase order forms, receipts or other documentation, and that it was accurately coded in the financial accounts.

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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