Cathy Jayne Pearce says welfare fraud case against former Adelaide rich-lister is a ‘Centrelink mistake’
FORMER Adelaide property tycoon Cathy Jayne Pearce has criticised her welfare fraud prosecution amid claims it is based on wrong facts and part of a wider Federal Government system crisis.
FORMER Adelaide property tycoon Cathy Jayne Pearce has criticised her welfare fraud prosecution, claiming the case against her is based on wrong information and is part of a wider Government crisis.
The former rich-lister, whose now uses the surname Hogben, is accused of stealing $15,000 from Centrelink through alleged illegal Newstart Allowance claims dating back more than five years.
But Hogben, 43, denies the claims, telling The Advertiser that the case “was pretty thin to be honest” and was based on wrong information, which was a mistake in the department’s wider current administrative problems related to an automated debt-recovery system.
“I have had a look at the information and they have assumed on incorrect information of theirs,” she said outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday, but declined to elaborate.
“I wish it was a debit and credit system because of the amount of money I have paid in tax and other duties in my time. Any assistance I got, I have been well deserved of.”
Commonwealth prosecutors accuse her of falsely representing that she had not worked, nor earned income, when claiming the welfare payments, which are paid to those actively seeking a job.
They further allege she under-declared earnings from Peter F Burns Real Estate – the Brighton agency where her late husband, Myles, worked.
They also allege Hogben – also known as Cait Pearce and Cathy Jayne Staker – falsely claimed to Centrelink that she had not worked or earned any income during her time with the estate agency.
She is yet to plead to three counts of obtaining a financial advantage for herself between April 2011 and July 2012 at Glenelg North, Somerton Park and undisclosed areas but has told the court she will enter not-guilty pleas. She faces a maximum 12 months’ jail for each offence.
Hogben, whose fortune was once valued at $19 million, said she had been “living with eight children” and “caring for a terminally ill man” throughout much of last year.
Her former husband, a prominent real estate identity from whom she separated in 2011, died in November from cancer, aged 69.
They were once high-profile members of Adelaide’s social circuit and lived in a $5.2 million Medindie mansion.
At Friday’s brief hearing, she was granted a further delay to consult lawyers and will be back in court next month.