MSD filed 17 charges in the Auckland District Court against Timothy Bolot, in relation to 20 wage subsidy applications. <\/p>\n
\u201cA total of $220,260.80 was paid to bank accounts nominated in the applications,\u201d MSD said.<\/p>\n
As the Herald revealed on Saturday, Bolot appeared in court in May 2023 and on his next appearance date three weeks later, a warrant was issued for his arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cA border alert was put on when the warrant was issued,\u201d said George van Ooyen, MSD group general manager for client service support. <\/p>\n
Van Ooyen said MSD would not comment on operational matters relating to active prosecutions, including inquiries made to law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cMSD\u2019s approach is to recover wage subsidy funding when it is determined recipients were not entitled to retain it. This can include any reparation ordered by the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
The office of the Minister for Social Development, Louise Upston, said as of June 30, MSD had approved civil recovery action against 56 businesses and prosecution action against 130 individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 56 civil recovery decisions relate to $8.8 million in debt. The 130 prosecution decisions relate to $9.2m in debt,\u201d a spokesperson for the minister\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Government takes alleged misappropriation of taxpayer and public money very seriously,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Covid subsidy scheme designed by the previous Labour Government was clearly left open to widespread abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The total value of approvals was $18.8 billion, according to an MSD evaluation of the Covid-19 wage subsidy in 2023.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bolot\u2019s company NZCN 1664163 Ltd, previously Best Telecom NZ Ltd, received a loan of $350,200 on January 21, 2021, from Callaghan Innovation.<\/p>\n
The balance, including interest, was now at least $405,197.35, the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) has told liquidators KPMG.<\/p>\n
That was from a $150m Callaghan Covid short-term research and development loan scheme. Cabinet approved the scheme in May 2020.<\/p>\n
Callaghan is being disestablished. MBIE has had responsibility for the short-term loan scheme since November.<\/p>\n
Seymour: Wannabe entrepreneur politicians to blame<\/p>\n
Act Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, who has been critical of Callaghan Innovation, said the case showed the previous Government had a lax attitude to spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guy steps foot in New Zealand, he\u2019s going to be arrested at the border. He\u2019s already been driven out of what I assume is his country.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone disagrees … that the right thing to do here is go after the money.\u201d <\/p>\n
But he added: \u201cShould the Government put resources into pursuing someone in Australia? That\u2019s a call for the people on the front line. I don\u2019t know what other demands they have on their time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the relevant public servants might have bigger fish to fry. <\/p>\n
A border alert was put out when the arrest warrant for Timothy David Bolot was issued, the Ministry of Social Development said. Photo \/ Alex Burton<\/p>\n
The Herald understands New Zealand authorities have recently pursued extradition cases where the amount allegedly taken was less than half the $220,556.80 in the Bolot case.<\/p>\n
Seymour said Callaghan Innovation loan defaults were the product of a loose system of handouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of this could have been avoided if we didn\u2019t have politicians who think they have a right to splash other people\u2019s cash.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said it was amazing there were not \u201ceven more scams\u201d and added: \u201cThe people who should be held accountable are the ones who think Callaghan was a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month, the Herald discovered that as of June 30, $16.3m of those Callaghan Covid loans had been repaid but 69 loan recipients, who received a total of $23.2m, were in receivership or liquidation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Recipients of $50.2m were up to date with their payments at the time.<\/p>\n Seymour said Callaghan Innovation was conjured up by \u201cpoliticians pretending they\u2019re entrepreneurs\u201d and looking for photo opportunities.<\/p>\n One Auckland lawyer said extraditing people was complicated.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople need to be quite motivated to try and extradite someone. I\u2019ve seen it happen with serious sex offending, murder obviously … but I can see why they might look at this and put it in the too-hard basket.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he also said authorities could be taking steps to extradite Bolot and simply weren\u2019t disclosing that.<\/p>\n MBIE head of innovation and business capability Diana Loughnan on Monday supplied more information about how the company got the $350,200 loan.<\/p>\n \u201cAs part of the application process, due diligence included a review of the business using online sources as well as of the listed directors.<\/p>\n \u201cAs part of the applications process, applicants were also required to declare any matters relating to the business or its directors that could present a reputational risk to Callaghan Innovation or the Crown.\u201d<\/p>\n Loughnan said the loan was provided to the company, which was New Zealand-registered, had a New Zealand address and met eligibility requirements, including having at least one director resident in New Zealand. <\/p>\n \u201cThe scheme did not require applicants to disclose the country of residence of all directors,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n \u201cMBIE understands MSD shared information relating to wage subsidy approvals only.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour\u2019s social development spokeswoman Willow-Jean Prime declined to comment.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven this is an active investigation and still before the courts, we won\u2019t be adding comment to this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n