The director of an engineering firm fraudulently signed off designs for thousands of houses in 42 districts of New Zealand. Photo: Supplied/ Dan Bailey
An engineer who forged the signatures of higher qualified colleagues is to be sentenced in the Rotorua District Court.
Jonathan Beau Hall pleaded guilty to 113 forgery charges in November after the fraud was uncovered last May when an allegation was made to Engineering New Zealand.
The member organisation immediately notified police who investigated, and Hall, also known as Jon or JB, found himself in the Taupō District Court where he admitted the forgery.
Hall was not qualified to sign producer statements for designs on 1000 homes when he used the identities of two chartered professional engineers and forged their signatures, according to Engineering New Zealand chief executive Richard Templer.
In his role as director of Kodiak Consulting Ltd, Hall submitted the forged documents to councils and a number of the designs were consented, Templer said.
Producer statements give councils confidence that a design will meet compliance, when they are signed by a chartered professional engineer.
He said the engineering technologist's actions had potentially compromised the safety of properties across 42 districts and undermined confidence and trust in the profession.
Templer said the scale of the offending was "alarming in its magnitude" and still being assessed.
But for homeowners it meant they would now have a note attached to their Land Information Memorandum (LIM) which could not be removed unless they have the design or error corrected at their own expense.
Hall was scheduled to appear in the Rotorua District Court at 11.45am on Friday 9 May.