Two Queensland men have been charged with fraud after they allegedly faked documents to claim more than xjmtzyw$360,000 in disaster assistance funding.
Police on Tuesday said a 47-year old Mount Isa man and a 71-year-old man – who lives on a pastoral property near Cloncurry at the centre of the investigation – had both been arrested and charged with two counts of fraud.
Police laid an additional four charges against the younger Mount Isa man in relation to alleged stolen machinery.
Officers allege the two men faked documents to gain funding for two grants administered by the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA).
Police say the claimed grant money had not been put towards maintaining the Cloncurry property after a natural disaster, despite the program being designed to help Queenslanders after floods and monsoon troughs in 2019.
Police say investigations into the suspect claim began in August 2020, and on December 15 and 16 last year investigators executed five search warrants at the Cloncurry property, leading to Tuesday’s charges.
Documentation and electrical evidence was also seized at several businesses in Mount Isa.
Major and Organised Crime Squad rural detective inspector Troy Pukallus on Tuesday said the arrests were proof police had a zero tolerance approach towards people exploiting schemes designed to support people in need.
“Disasters can have significant and often tragic impacts on Queensland’s remote and rural communities. To identify and prosecute people who would take advantage of the support provided to help people in difficult times is a pleasing outcome,” Mr Pukallus said.
“These arrests are the culmination of over a year-long, intensive and extensive investigation and I would like to thank the investigators for their meticulous work.
Both men are due to appear in the Mount Isa Magistrates Court on February 14.
