|
The Press
January 23, 2004
Catching claim cheats saves ACC $13m
by Sean Scanlon
More than 100 people were convicted of defrauding
the ACC of more than $1.1 million in the past financial year.
Official figures show the ACC secured convictions in 101 of the 109 claimant
fraud cases it took to court.
The value of the fraud was $1,149,061, but the ACC predicts it saved
$13,531,057 by catching the claim cheats. In the past three years more than
$3m of fraud has been identified by the corporation and 290 people
successfully convicted in court.
The top fraud cases last year involved sums of $507,000, $206,122, $166,232,
$153,793, $135,149 and $123,156. Most of these cases involved complex fraud
over several years.
In the worst case, Waihi man Ronald Frederick Donaldson was found guilty of
44 counts of defrauding the ACC.
The charges related to payments he received between July 1991 and September
1999.
The Crown said $7.3m went through his bank accounts while he received
$507,000 compensation payments for a back injury.
Donaldson is due for sentencing next month.
ACC spokesman Fraser Folster declined to detail the ACC's investigation
techniques but said it followed tip-offs, hired private investigators and
used data-matching with the Corrections Department.
"ACC uses several companies for investigation services," Folster
said. "These companies are made up of licensed private investigators and
the companies are chosen through a tender process." The ACC has spent
about $4.5m on private investigators in the past three years.
The most common types of claimant fraud included someone returning to work
without telling the ACC, medical providers claiming for services not
provided, employers under- declaring earnings to reduce or avoid levy
payments, and claiming for help or attendant care that had not been done.
"It's fair to say that dishonest people will always look for new ways to
commit fraud," Folster said.
The ACC had 22 staff dedicated to detecting fraud.
|
