Workers' comp fraudster sentenced after undisclosed bus driving

Workers’ comp fraudster sentenced after undisclosed bus driving

7 October 2022

A NSW court has sentenced a tradesman for defrauding the workers’ compensation scheme after an investigation found he became a bus driver while receiving injury payments.

The Newtown Local Court sentenced Luis Manuel Farinha Alves to a 12-month intensive correction order. He will serve nine months in home detention and was ordered to repay $170,000 to the scheme as well as $38,630 in legal costs.

State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) CEO Adam Dent says lying to receive workers’ compensation payments undermines the ability of the scheme to provide care and support to genuinely injured workers.

“SIRA will always take steps to protect the NSW workers’ compensation scheme from fraud and won’t hesitate to prosecute anyone that fraudulently obtains money they’re not entitled to,” he said.

Mr Alves, a self-employed tradesman, received weekly workers’ compensation payments between April 2001 and December 2017, but a SIRA investigation revealed he had been employed as a bus driver since 2011 and had failed to notify his insurer of his employment and income.

SIRA prosecuted Mr Alves on a charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception/dishonesty under section 192E(1)(b) of the NSW Crimes Act 1900.

In a hearing on Wednesday, Magistrate Lisa Stapleton found that it was a serious offence and Mr Alves willingly defrauded the scheme and showed no remorse.

Mr Alves, who has the right to appeal the sentence, pleaded guilty to the charge in June.