John William Jackson (62) was sentenced to two years and five months imprisonment in the North Shore District Court on March 29, 2012, after pleading guilty to charges of accessing a computer for dishonest purposes.
The charges were brought following an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Mr Jackson was a director and shareholder of air conditioning company Aire Res-Comm Limited (ARC). He pleaded guilty in January 2011 to six charges under the Crimes Act of accessing a computer for dishonest purpose, although he disputed the quantum of the alleged offending.
Mr Jackson was found to have diverted over $571,340.67 of company money on multiple occasions between 2006 and 2009, by using Internet banking to bank accounts linked to him and his family. He misrepresented these transactions in company documents as payments to creditors.
The SFO opened its investigation into Mr Jackson in November 2009 and laid charges in December 2010.
Mr Jackson is a South African national. He came to New Zealand in August 2000.
In or around 2002, Mr Jackson agreed to form ARC with two business partners. He became a director of ARC on June 3, 2003 and a third shareholder in July 2004.
His role in the company involved him designing air conditioning systems, obtaining consents from the regional council, pricing and securing contracts and outsourcing labour and supplies on the contracts.
In 2005, Mr Jackson took over the work of another staff member when she went on holiday for two months. This role required him to have Internet access to the ARC bank accounts to enable him to pay the company’s creditors. He continued in this role following the initial two months.
Using this access to the ARC bank accounts, on multiple occasions between June 2006 and August 2009, Mr Jackson misappropriated an aggregate of $571,340.67 from ARC. He did this by transferring sums of money via the Internet banking system to bank accounts associated with him and his family and described these payments in the Internet banking transfer and in the MYOB accounting software system as being payments to creditors.
Serious Fraud Office Press Release
