Ex-Winz officer guilty of benefit fraud

By Dean Calcott - Canterbury | Saturday, 28 June 2008 A former Work and Income (Winz) case manager charged with benefit fraud has been found guilty on six counts. In the Christchurch District Court yesterday, Judge Thomas Everitt found Ravichandiren Nara guilty of three charges of wilfully omitting to advise income or employment and three of dishonestly using a document. The judge said Nara knew the system "like the back of his hand" and used it to get what he could. Nara knew his obligations. Nevertheless, he wilfully withheld information that would have affected his entitlement to benefits, the judge said. Prosecutor Richard Williams told the court Nara was employed as a Work and Income case manager through most of the period covered by the charges, from April 2004 to January 2007. He was also a client of Work and Income as... [read full story]