Guilty plea confirms SFO charges halted further losses

Media Release
28 November 2012

Guilty plea confirms SFO charges halted further losses

Jin Weifeng (28) has pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court today to 11 charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) under the Crimes Act and Secret Commissions Act.

Mr Weifeng was facing charges of theft, dishonestly using a document and taking secret commissions.

While working for his former employer, the Sutton Group (Sutton), he participated in a number of transactions combining to defraud Sutton either by the creation of false invoices, theft of product or by receiving secret commissions from a supplier of product to Sutton.

Acting SFO Chief Executive, Simon McArley, said, “This case illustrates a caught-in-the-act example of employee fraud. It’s impossible to estimate how much more momentum the actions of Mr Weifeng would have gathered. However the outcome demonstrates the benefit of early intervention and the importance of reporting suspicions of criminal activity at the earliest opportunity. Businesses and the public can help minimise the cost of economic crime by vigilance and early reporting.”

An associate of Mr Weifeng, Paul Michael Normington (33), is facing similar charges in relation to the Sutton group.

Mr Weifeng will reappear for sentencing on 14 March.

ENDS


Note to Editors

Background to investigation
The Sutton Group (Sutton) is a company based in Auckland. Sutton is a significant producer of dairy products, the majority of which being for export.

Jin Weifeng was employed by Sutton as Purchasing Assistant in November 2008 providing support to his the line manager, Paul Normington. In August 2010 Jin Weifeng was promoted to Warehouse Manager, supervising all staff in the warehouse. He resigned in January 2012.

Crimes Act offences:
Section 219 Theft or stealing
(1) Theft or stealing is the act of,—
(a) dishonestly and without claim of right, taking any property with intent to deprive any owner permanently of that property or of any interest in that property; or
(b) dishonestly and without claim of right, using or dealing with any property with intent to deprive any owner permanently of that property or of any interest in that property after obtaining possession of, or control over, the property in whatever manner.
(2) An intent to deprive any owner permanently of property includes an intent to deal with property in such a manner that—
(a) the property cannot be returned to any owner in the same condition; or
(b) any owner is likely to be permanently deprived of the property or of any interest in the property.
(3) In this section, taking does not include obtaining ownership or possession of, or control over, any property with the consent of the person from whom it is obtained, whether or not consent is obtained by deception.
(4) For tangible property, theft is committed by a taking when the offender moves the property or causes it to be moved

Section 223 Punishment of theft
Every one who commits theft is liable as follows:
(a) in the case of any offence against section 220, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years; or
(b) if the value of the property stolen exceeds $1,000, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years; or
(c) if the value of the property stolen exceeds $500 but does not exceed $1,000, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year; or
(d) if the value of the property stolen does not exceed $500, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months.

Section 228 Dishonestly taking or using document
Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years who, with intent to obtain any property, service, pecuniary advantage, or valuable consideration,—
(a) dishonestly and without claim of right, takes or obtains any document; or
(b) dishonestly and without claim of right, uses or attempts to use any document.

Secret Commissions Act offences:
Section 5 Duty of agent to disclose pecuniary interest in contract
(1) Every agent is guilty of an offence who makes a contract on behalf of his principal and fails to disclose to his principal, at the time of making the contract or as soon as possible thereafter, the existence of any pecuniary interest which the agent has in the making of the contract, unless to the knowledge of the agent the existence of such pecuniary interest is already known to his principal.
(2) For the purposes of this section any pecuniary interest which a parent, husband, wife, civil union partner, de facto partner, child, or partner of the agent has in the making of the contract shall be deemed to be the pecuniary interest of the agent, unless he proves that he had no knowledge of that interest at the time when he made the contract.

(3) For the purposes of this section an agent shall not be deemed to have any pecuniary interest in the making of a contract by reason merely of the fact that he or any person mentioned in the last preceding subsection is a shareholder in an incorporated company having more than 20 members.

Role of the SFO
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was established in 1990 under the Serious Fraud Office Act in response to the collapse of financial markets in New Zealand at that time.
The SFO operates three investigative teams:
• Evaluation & Intelligence;
• Financial Markets & Corporate Fraud; and
• Fraud & Corruption.

The SFO operates under two sets of investigative powers.

Part I of the SFO Act provides that it may act where the Director “has reason to suspect that an investigation into the affairs of any person may disclose serious or complex fraud.”

Part II of the SFO Act provides the SFO with more extensive powers where: “…the Director has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence involving serious or complex fraud may have been committed…”

The SFO’s Annual Report 2012 sets out its achievements for the past year, while the Statement of Intent 2012-2015 sets out the SFO’s three year strategic goals and performance standards. Both are available online at: www.sfo.govt.nz

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