[New Zealand] Payroll officer stole $220k from Auckland District Health Board

In New Zealand, a payroll officer at Te Toka Tumai Auckland (formerly Auckland District Health Board) took advantage of a “small window of opportunity” to transfer $220,000 into her own personal account, Stuff reports.

Angelina Tuese was charged in March 2021 and has since admitted to four charges of theft by someone in a special relationship. She will be sentenced next year.

Te Toka Tumai Auckland has two large fortnightly pay runs; Technical Medical Clerical (TMC) and Nursing (NSG). Each week one or the other is run, according to the summary of facts acquired by Stuff.

Before the pay runs are disbursed, the payroll department reportedly does two trial pay runs to ensure there are no irregularities.

This leaves a small window of opportunity for a payroll officer to make adjustments without alerting the system, according to the summary.

Within that small window, Ms Tuese managed to transfer $220k into her personal account.

On four occasions between May 2018 and January 2021, Ms Tuese reportedly accessed the payroll system and changed the bank account details of employees who had ceased employment at the DHB to her own. She then changed the account numbers back.

On the first occasion, Ms Tuese self-verified a payslip for $922.06. The amount was $5,206.12 the second time.

Between February and May 2020, she self-verified 18 payslips for an employee valued at $72,122.68.

Then between June 2020 and January 2021, she self-verified 16 payslips of another former employee, valued at $142,109.83.

All offending and self-verification was reportedly carried out in the window between the trial pay runs and the actual pay runs.

In total, Ms Tuese transferred $220,360.69 into her account.

David Vial - acting chief financial officer for Te Toka Tumai Auckland - said they were saddened that an individual had taken advantage of their position to defraud the organisation.

“Fraudulent activity like this is very rare and the actions of Ms Tuese should not reflect on the good work and integrity of our workforce.”

Mr Vial said that the DHB took appropriate action if fraudulent activity was detected through internal audits.

“In this case, our actions included carrying out an audit, reporting our findings to the police, and taking steps to prevent this happening again. In addition, the individual no longer works for us.”

He said the nature of Tuese’s sporadic offending over an extended period of time impacted how quickly Te Toka Tumai was able to detect it.

Te Toka Tumai has since reviewed its audit practices across the payroll systems and further strengthened the checking and approval process, Mr Vial added.

Source: Stuff

(Quotes via original reporting)

In New Zealand, a payroll officer at Te Toka Tumai Auckland (formerly Auckland District Health Board) took advantage of a “small window of opportunity” to transfer $220,000 into her own personal account, Stuff reports.

Angelina Tuese was charged in March 2021 and has since admitted to four charges of theft by someone in a special relationship. She will be sentenced next year.

Te Toka Tumai Auckland has two large fortnightly pay runs; Technical Medical Clerical (TMC) and Nursing (NSG). Each week one or the other is run, according to the summary of facts acquired by Stuff.

Before the pay runs are disbursed, the payroll department reportedly does two trial pay runs to ensure there are no irregularities.

This leaves a small window of opportunity for a payroll officer to make adjustments without alerting the system, according to the summary.

Within that small window, Ms Tuese managed to transfer $220k into her personal account.

On four occasions between May 2018 and January 2021, Ms Tuese reportedly accessed the payroll system and changed the bank account details of employees who had ceased employment at the DHB to her own. She then changed the account numbers back.

On the first occasion, Ms Tuese self-verified a payslip for $922.06. The amount was $5,206.12 the second time.

Between February and May 2020, she self-verified 18 payslips for an employee valued at $72,122.68.

Then between June 2020 and January 2021, she self-verified 16 payslips of another former employee, valued at $142,109.83.

All offending and self-verification was reportedly carried out in the window between the trial pay runs and the actual pay runs.

In total, Ms Tuese transferred $220,360.69 into her account.

David Vial - acting chief financial officer for Te Toka Tumai Auckland - said they were saddened that an individual had taken advantage of their position to defraud the organisation.

“Fraudulent activity like this is very rare and the actions of Ms Tuese should not reflect on the good work and integrity of our workforce.”

Mr Vial said that the DHB took appropriate action if fraudulent activity was detected through internal audits.

“In this case, our actions included carrying out an audit, reporting our findings to the police, and taking steps to prevent this happening again. In addition, the individual no longer works for us.”

He said the nature of Tuese’s sporadic offending over an extended period of time impacted how quickly Te Toka Tumai was able to detect it.

Te Toka Tumai has since reviewed its audit practices across the payroll systems and further strengthened the checking and approval process, Mr Vial added.

Source: Stuff

(Quotes via original reporting)