A new investigation into convicted New Zealand Ministry of Transport fraudster Joanne Harrison is asking the question: Can a bad apple turn good?
Award-winning investigative team Stuff Circuit has released a new documentary which reveals the “charming fraudster”, who stole from New Zealand businesses and government agencies before fleeing to the UK, is indeed up to her old tricks.
“As sure as God made little apples, she would have reinvented herself and she will be ripping someone off in England as we speak,” predicted a former colleague of Harrison.
Stuff Circuit exposed Harrison (who also went by the aliases Joanne Sharp and Joanne Sidebottom) as a charismatic and manipulative conwoman whose court-ordered name suppression enabled her repeat offending.
The team went to court to have the suppression lifted and revealed the full extent of her crimes in the 2019 documentary, The Fraudster.
It uncovered how she lied on her New Zealand visa application, created fake job references, duped senior executives, falsified invoices and personal expenses and charmed her way through several government jobs in New Zealand and Australia – all whilst earning six figure salaries.
Harrison stole more than $700,000 from the New Zealand Ministry of Transport, a story that made front page news back in 2017. After serving time for that fraud, Harrison was deported back to the UK. On release from prison she promised she would go straight and continue to use the name Joanne Harrison.
The latest Stuff Circuit investigation, Alias, has discovered that promise – like so much of what she says – was a lie. The investigation asks what has become of Harrison and whether she’s conning now.
*Go to www.stuff.co.nz/circuit to watch the documentary.
