Te Awamutu man sentenced after falsely claiming $30k of Covid ...

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The man has been sentenced to eight and a half months home detention. (File photo)

A Te Awamutu man has appeared in court after falsely claiming $30,800 of a Covid-19 benefit for a business he no longer worked at.

Nathanael Ballard was sentenced to eight-and-a-half months home detention at the Te Awamutu District Court on November 27, having been charged with dishonestly and without claim of right applying for Small Business Cashflow Scheme loans (SBCS) and a Resurgence Support Payment (RSP).

Ballard was listed as a director of Pure Quality Services Ltd when it was incorporated in September 2016 – but stopped that role in January 2017.

He had ‘owner’ access to the company’s myIR account and didn’t cancel it when he stopped being a director. He also had a myIR account in his own name.

In April 2020, the Government announced the Small Business Cashflow Scheme to support small businesses that were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just a month later, Ballard applied for an $11,800 SBCS loan in his own name, which was approved and paid out.

“He knew he wasn’t entitled to the money because he didn’t have an existing and viable business,” Inland Revenue said.

Two days later, he repeated the application process but this time for $19,000 using the company name.

Bollard was caught out when the business’ real director approached Inland Revenue.

In February 2021, Ballard again tried to make a claim, but this time for the Resurgence Support Payment.

He claimed he had been in business for six months and that the business was “viable and ongoing”, but Inland Revenue declined the application.

The total paid out to Bollard by Inland Revenue was $30,800.

Since a review into Covid-19 support payments, Inland Revenue has successfully prosecuted eight people, including Bollard, for fraud involving $7,789,073.

There are 23 more cases before the courts.