Lindsay Raki, a former player for the All Blacks, has been sentenced to more than 2 years in jail for stealing pokie grant money. He was sentenced earlier today, after the Auckland District Court ruled that he was guilty of stealing $300 000 from pokie grants.

Raki’s crimes were discovered during an investigation into pokie grants that had been allocated for the Manurewa High School Rugby Academy and Counties Manukau Youth Development Inc (CMYD). The former rugby star was also a qualified accountant, and controlled the finances for the academy. Unfortunately, he misused his power, siphoning pokie funds from the organization into his own bank account.

The Department of Internal Affairs found that Raki had been spending grant money on himself and his own personal purchases. From 2006 to 2008, he had applied for a number of grants under the guise of seeking funds for the CMYD and the Rugby Acadamy. When the grant money was awarded, he did not give it to the rightful cause. Instead, he used the money himself.

This is yet another unfortunate case of the misappropriation of pokie grant funds. Over the course of the past few years, there has been a number of cases of individuals stealing grant money from worthy causes. In many cases, the crimes are not discovered until an unrelated investigation or inquiry is conducted. It seems as though the local government should tighten up its pokie grant program.

There should be more security measures in place in order to ensure that funds are actually given to the rightful recipient. The main benefit of poker machines is to provide community organizations with valuable funding. However, if that money does not go to the right people, it seems futile.

About the Author

George Anderson
Author George, has over 25+ years’ experience in the Pokies and Casinos industry throughout Australia and New Zealand. Loves to research new Pokies games on the block and follows announcements from top industry providers about their upcoming releases. As soon as a new interesting pokie game appears on his radar, George is there to check it out and give you the scoop before anyone else and tell you about all casino sites where can play the latest game. Before this gig, George worked as Pokie game tester, making him an ideal candidate for this genre of work. He is also an animal lover and a proud owner of three dogs.