Haha, suckers
Self confessed benefit fraudster Metiria Turei has now said she will pay the money she nicked back:
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei says she has decided to pay back any money owed to Work and Income but is waiting to hear from them to find out how much she needs to pay.
Turei said there was “no doubt” the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) would investigate her case and she expected a call any day now.
“I’ve left them no option,” she told the Herald. “Of course they need to have a look.”
She still thinks it is all shits and giggles.
Announcing her party’s welfare policy at the party’s AGM on Sunday, Turei revealed that she lied to Winz about her living situation while on the domestic purposes benefit in the 1990s.
She admitted that she had extra flatmates living with her to help pay the rent, but did not tell the authorities because her benefit would be cut. A solo mother at the time, she feared she would not be able to care for daughter Piu if she lost her welfare payments.
Turei initially said she would pay it back if MSD got in touch, but later said she planned to refund Winz regardless.
“It was always the decision to pay it back, I just wasn’t clear enough in the speech on Sunday.
“But I need to wait for WINZ to do the calculation and the investigation, because I can’t do that myself.”
It was difficult to know how much she owed, she said. She had extra flatmates in three of the five flats she lived in, over three years.
Paying it back is fine, but she should be prosecuted and convicted for such a deliberate fraud.
She has realised her stunt has backfired and their internal polls must be clearly showing that. She has been forced into this position not out of guilt or remorse, but the stark political reality that it has cost the Greens votes.
What the silly cow had also failed to realise is that she has now exposed the baby daddy to recovery of liable parent contributions from IRD…for 18years of missing payments from the dead beat dad.
On top of that her changing stories have revealed she also received money from her family, the baby daddy’s family, as well as the boarders. I’d say she has bigger problems than just her benefit fraud.
-NZ Herald