Underground Poker Ring, Date: Indian-Origin Engineer jailed for $ 1M fraud in New Zealand, he was planning to go to Australia

New Zealand Herald, an Indian -origin engineer of Shyamal Sushil Shah, a former employee of the Auckland Council, said that a former employee of the Auckland Council, a former employee, has been sentenced to two years and two months in jail. Shah convicted the Auckland District Court and his petition for bail and domestic detention was denied. Shah worked as a water network engineer at Watercare and committed extensive fraud over a period of 17 months. He came up with a plan to generate fake challans under fake names and was paid to those who were deposited directly to Shah’s personal account. Some 40 fake challans were produced for fake institutions like “Mali Construction”, “Ben Mali”, resulting in about $ 1039146 to his account. Watercare manages the drinking water and waste water services of the Auckland region.Shah was arrested in November 2023 which was considered to be his last week in Watercare as he was already planning to move to Australia. Shah proposed to return the money using his Kiwiswar, his new employer’s loan, and financial help from his parents. “I imagine, as anyone would be a parents, they are frightened and distressed,” Judge Kate Devanport commented, looking at the gestures of the parents. According to NZ Herald’s report, Shah’s scam began when it became accustomed to gambling which began as a Skycity casino. Eventually, he got entangled with an underground poker ring, increased his debt, and was forced to cheat out of frustration. Shah’s lawyer David Jones Casey said that despite the sentence, Shah completed the 267 -hour donation work, done three new works and was asked to “after” much demand “in his area. Judge Devanport gave 55% punishment exemption to offer Shah’s guilty petition, former good character, repentance, rehabilitation efforts and repayment, but emphasized the need for preventive and condemnation, said NZ Herald.