SA: Gambling addict jailed for welfare fraud

AAP General News (Australia)
04-15-2004
SA: Gambling addict jailed for welfare fraud

ADELAIDE, April 15 AAP - A gambling addict who used different identities to defraud
welfare agencies of $45,000 was today jailed for 27 months.

Adelaide man Siel Bia Ly (Siel Bia Ly), 28, was also fined $900 for his fraud offences
in the South Australian District Court today.

Judge Patricia Kelly said Ly used several identities to engage in "deliberate and sustained
fraud over a prolonged period".

Ly had earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of defrauding the Commonwealth or public
authority; two of obtaining financial advantage by deception; one of unlawfully obtaining
credit while bankrupt; a charge of using a cancelled passport for travel or identification
and to three charges of making false statements to a taxation officer.

Judge Kelly said Ly, who was born in Vietnam and moved to Australia when aged 11, used
three different identities to implement the frauds between October 1999 and May last year.

She said Ly illegally obtained parenting payments and Newstart allowances totalling
$44,969, and also procured a $15,000 personal loan on false pretences from the Commonwealth
Bank.

"You have a pathological gambling addiction," Judge Kelly told Ly today during sentencing.

"If you don't take steps with your gambling addiction, you will ruin your life."

While giving Ly a head sentence of 27 months jail, Judge Kelly said he would be eligible
for release after 15 months imprisonment.

AAP sl/cjh/de

KEYWORD: LY

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