Home detention for $33,800 wage subsidy fraud

A South Otago business operator was sentenced on 18 February to seven months home detention in the Dunedin District Court after dishonestly claiming more than $33,800 in COVID 19 Wage Subsidy funds. 
 
Tony Peter Haines, former director of Clutha Carrying Company Limited (CCCL), pleaded guilty to three representative charges of dishonestly using a document, in relation to wage subsidy applications submitted between April 2020 and September 2021.
 
Although CCCL was operating as a trucking company with legitimate staff, Haines filed a series of false applications listing individuals who did not work for the business at the time of the applications, were only employed part time, or in one case had never been employed by CCCL. 
 
The court heard that Haines made repeated dishonest applications across the initial Wage Subsidy, the Wage Subsidy Extension, and the August 2021 Resurgence payments. 
 
In total, CCCL received $33,882.40 in public funds it was not entitled to. These funds have since been repaid.
 
The case also revealed that Haines had attempted to obscure CCCL’s directorship by suggesting another individual was the director, although Inland Revenue records confirmed he retained oversight. CCCL has since been liquidated.  
 
District Court Judge Hermann Retzlaff gave credit for the full repayment of the amount and guilty plea when settling on the final sentence.
 
A total of 59 people have been sentenced in wage subsidy cases, and another 47 people are still before the courts as part of MSD’s programme of work on wage subsidy fraud and integrity. Since the scheme started, more than $830 million* in wage subsidies has been repaid.

For more information about the Wage Subsidy Integrity and Fraud Programme please see here.

 *Figures at 31 December 2025