Police handcuff a South Australian man arrested over an alleged $5 million fraud against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Courtesy of the Australian Federal Police
A South Australian man has been arrested while attempting to leave the country and charged with allegedly perpetrating a multi-million-dollar fraud against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Police detained the 38-year-old at Adelaide Airport on Aug. 14 and later charged him with dealing with the proceeds of crime and obtaining confidential information about NDIS participants from a staff member at the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
The man is a director of a registered NDIS provider.
The dealing-with-proceeds-of-crime charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment, while the other carries a maximum of two years.
The man was caught following an investigation by the Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT) that began in March after the NDIA found there had been unauthorised access to protected records of NDIS participants.
In June, investigators raided two homes in the Adelaide suburbs of Mawson Lakes and Blakeview, and at a business at Prospect, and seized several electronic devices.
A 48-year-old Adelaide woman was the first person to be charged following the FFT investigation, which found she had used her position as an NDIA employee to access the records of more than 40 NDIS participants.
Police alleged she then sold the data to the man’s business for more than $53,000 (US$37,700). The woman was charged in June and is scheduled to next appear in court later this month.
Meanwhile, the man allegedly used the information to make thousands of fraudulent NDIS claims totalling $5 million.
An NDIA spokesperson said the man’s arrest demonstrated that people who exploited the scheme could would be found and brought before the courts.
“Intelligence across law enforcement bodies and government agencies is detecting and disrupting bad actors,” the spokesperson said.
“Our strengthened integrity systems and multi-agency efforts are closing opportunities for exploitation and protecting the NDIS and the participants who rely on it for support.”
Louise Glanville, Commissioner for NDIS Quality and Safeguards, said that misusing NDIS funds would not be accepted.
“Providers who seek to misuse NDIS funding undermine trust in the disability support system and put the integrity of the scheme at risk,” she said.
“We will continue to use the full range of our compliance and enforcement powers to protect people with disability from harm and safeguard the integrity of the scheme.”
Amid widespread fraud allegations, One Nation called for a public inquiry into the scheme in March, but the motion was voted down by Labor and the Greens.
