A former gambling trust administrator has been sentenced to home detention after nearly $2 million in poker machine money failed to go to the South Auckland communities it was intended for.
The Department of Internal Affairs says Daniel Joseph Clifford, 58, pleaded guilty to a representative charge of dishonestly using a document.
In the Manukau District Court, the 58-year-old was sentenced to nine months' home detention and 200 hours of community work.
The department says Clifford manipulated gambling trusts, failed to return money to the community and paid $1.72 million to a company of which he was the sole director.
It says it is difficult to trace how much money he personally benefited from.
The department says the court could not order reparation, as the trust Clifford was involved in has been wound up, but he will pay four charities $5000 each.
