Otago-Southland electricity supplier Powernet got a High Court order freezing assets of Tapanui employee Joshua Grant Arthur alleging he defrauded the company of $440,000 by charging separately for work he was paid to do as an employee.
Mr Arthur and his spouse jointly own a company called Applied Intelligence Ltd. The High Court was told Powernet turned down Mr Arthur’s request that he bill his employer through Applied Intelligence for pre and post earthing testing he does on Powernet projects. This would create a conflict of interest and was in breach of the company’s code of conduct, Powernet said.
The High Court was told Powernet learnt that Mr Arthur subsequently billed civil engineering contractors directly through his company for inspection work on Powernet projects, telling contractors to onbill the invoice to Powernet, hiding the fact that he had done the work. The economic effect was to have Powernet pay twice: first in salary paid Mr Arthur for inspections to be done as a Powernet employee and second for the work done in fact by Mr Arthur’s company. As Powernet’s project manager, Mr Arthur approved for payment invoices submitted by contractors.
A High Court freezing order was imposed over land and motor vehicles Mr Arthur owned. Justice Dunningham ruled a freezing order was necessary against the possibility that these assets might be sold up and the cash shifted off-shore.
It has yet to be decided at trial whether Mr Arthur did act fraudulently.
Powernet Ltd v. Arthur – High Court (8.03.22)
22.051