A Rotorua man who used COVID-19 relief money to gamble was sentenced to home detention when he appeared for sentence this month.
Glen Allan Rumble was sentenced in the Rotorua District Court on 23 April to 10 months home detention and 100 hours community work.
He was convicted and sentenced on representative charges of using electronically filed applications for three COVID-19 relief schemes – the Small Business Cashflow Scheme (SBCS) loan, the COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment (RSP), and the COVID Support Payment (CSP).
There were also 2 charges of using an electronically filed GST return to get money he wasn’t entitled to.
In 2020 the government announced the CSP scheme, followed in 2021 by the RSP, and in 2022 the SBCS.
All three were implemented using a ‘high trust’ model so businesses could get help with the adverse effects of the pandemic. The money was to help with core business expenses.
Rumble set up RumbleboysNZ Limited in September 2020 with him as the sole director and shareholder. Later that month he set up a myIR account for the firm with his personal bank account used for receiving funds.
He applied for all three forms of pandemic relief over time and stated Rumbleboys was in business and entitled to the payments. He also filed two GST returns.
Neither Rumbleboys nor Rumble himself ever traded and were not entitled to the payments claimed.
In total Rumble applied for $53,164.13 and received $37,066.15. He used the money on gambling, cash withdrawals, and personal expenses.