Pet food, hair product companies used in wage fraud
20 February 2025.
A woman who set up and used two companies, classified as canned pet food and business hair product industries, to defraud the COVID-19 Wage Subsidy scheme has been sentenced to home detention.
Simrat Rai, 30, of Mangere East received $25,288.80 from three applications to the scheme in 2020.
Rai appeared for sentencing in Manukau District Court on 17 February having earlier admitted charges of using a document to gain pecuniary advantage in connection with the scheme.
In total she made 22 applications between March 2020 and December 2021.
Applications were made for Paws Purfect, the intended trading name of one of the companies, as well as in the name of the two companies, the defendant, and her ex-partner.
In sentencing Rai, Judge Davis noted this was serious offending in a high trust environment.
Judge Davis imposed a sentence of 9 months home detention and ordered reparation of $2000.
A total of 30 people have been sentenced in wage subsidy cases, and another 58 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 $827.5 million* in wage subsidies has been repaid. For more information please see here.
*Figures at 18 December
