Benefit cheat had big assets

A former Whangamata beneficiary who part-owned almost $1 million worth of property has been handed 350 hours community service after fraudulently obtaining more than $100,000 in benefit payments.

Graham Taylor, 56, was sentenced in the Thames District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to one charge of using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage and another of failing to disclose assets for benefits received between 2000 and 2009.

Taylor received nearly $110,000 worth of various benefit payments from the Ministry of Social Development, yet failed to declare he part-owned three properties around Whangamata worth more than $985,000 as well as having a large amount of cash. He paid back the debt in full earlier this year.

Taylor received an invalid benefit after years of working in the motor industry painting cars left him with an illness. He also received an accommodation supplement and disability allowance to care for his 87-year-old mother Margaret, who has suffered from continuing bad health over the last decade.

Judge Connell denied a request that Taylor be discharged without conviction saying Taylor had "ripped off" his community.

Taylor has meanwhile lodged a private civil prosecution suit against government figures including Prime Minister John Key for failing to provide his elderly mother with a "duty of care".

- © Fairfax NZ News