Joseph Nathan, Staff Writer, ThePaper.co.nz
An Auckland airport bus driver stole almost a quarter of a million dollars from passengers by charging them through his own EFTPOS machine instead of his employer’s.
Loganathan Pillay quietly diverted more than $243,000 in fares over eight months, processing more than 11,500 payments before the fraud was uncovered.
Passengers boarding the SkyDrive airport service believed they were paying Ritchies for their trip. Instead, the money was being deposited directly into Pillay’s personal bank account.
The court heard Pillay bought his own EFTPOS terminal and registered it under the name “SkyDrive”, allowing the transactions to appear legitimate while he pocketed the fares.
By the time the scheme was uncovered, Ritchies had lost $243,000.
Pillay admitted the offending and was sentenced to prison.
His lawyer told the court much of the stolen money had been lost through gambling, arguing his client had not profited in the long term because the money ultimately ended up at SkyCity Casino rather than in his own hands.
The offending has prompted questions about how thousands of unauthorised fare transactions were able to continue undetected for months on one of Auckland’s busiest airport bus services.
The fraud is one of the largest employee thefts involving New Zealand’s public transport network in recent years, with a simple EFTPOS terminal at the centre of a scheme that lasted for months before anyone realised where the money was really going.