A former IHC fundraising manager who admitted defrauding the organisation of more than $500,000 has been jailed for three years.
Lynn Fiebig, 56, was sentenced in Wellington District Court, having earlier pleaded guilty to 74 charges of using a document for pecuniary advantage and one of money laundering.
Between October 2006 and May 2009 Fiebig created 74 invoices from three bogus companies, making $590,029.80 from her fraudulent activities.
A large amount of the money was spent on a five-star luxury lodge in Ohakune which Fiebig ran with her partner.
Judge Bruce Davidson said her offending was persistent and clearly premeditated.
In court, Fiebig made a public apology to the IHC, its clients and staff.
"I will forever live with the shame of my actions," she told the court.
"I seriously breached the trust others placed in me and what I did was wrong.
"Those closest to me I have hurt, and I have caused untold distress to IHC, people living with intellectual disability and their families, its employees and supporters.
"The complete and utter remorse I feel is constant and I am committed to doing all I can to make reparation to IHC."
Little hope of recovering money
The general manager of IHC programmes, Janine Stewart, says there is little hope of getting the money back as there are other creditors before them.
She says Fiebig's offending has had a devastating effect on the IHC - putting it under enormous financial pressure and damaging staff morale and the public's trust.
Ms Stewart says the IHC has tightened its systems further - but it was those systems which uncovered Fiebig's offending.
