The New Zealand gay man who conned Queensland Health out of more than $20million and lived a lavish lifestyle, claiming to be Tahitian royalty, is due for parole this December and still owes millions. Hohepa Morehu-Barlow, also known as Joel Barlow, was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in 2013. His offences included aggravated fraud as an employee, forgery, uttering a forged document and possessing drugs. A fixture on the Auckland gay scene over a decade ago, Morehu-Barlow will owe over $9 million to recover the costs of his crime, an auction in 2013 of his property seized raised $NZ1,138,000. In ten years time, The Australian reports that this will reach $13.8million because of the interest incurred, something Brisbane lawyer and Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman told The Australian that the state Premier should suspend to allow him to “get on with his life”. Queensland Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg told The Australian he does not believe Morehu-Barlow should escape his debt. "It would be unjust to simply excuse and write off the debt of someone like Joel Barlow who deliberately and deceitfully went out of his way to defraud taxpayers and deprive Queenslanders of much-needed health services," he says. The money Morehu-Barlow stole from Queensland Health was to be used by the organisation to support charities and community groups.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 12th April 2016 - 12:25pm