Strata manager Rachael Kwawegen sentenced to 15 months in prison
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Sue Williams
16 September 2014

Rachael Kwawegen entering Parramatta Local Court.   Photo: Sue Williams

A Sydney strata manager who stole more than $1 million from the apartment and business owners whose buildings she looked after has been sentenced 15 months in prison.

Rachael Kwawegen, 39, the co-founder of boutique strata company The Strata Agency used the cash she salted away from the trust accounts she managed to put down a deposit on a house, buy cars and support a lifestyle she could not afford, Parramatta Local Court heard on Tuesday.

a non-parole period of nine months

On Tuesday Magistrate Bruce Williams sentenced the former real estate agent and mother of three, who has a  22-month-old baby, to a non-parole period of nine months. He said the deceit had gone on for two and a half years.

Investigators were still unsure how some of the money was taken, but believed it involved invoices raised for work that was not carried out.

None of the apartment owners ended up losing money, however, as they were compensated for the missing cash by a property fund operated by the NSW Department of Fair Trading. The fund is made up of licence fees and interest on bonds.

the promise of a more intimate service and efficient processes for cheaper prices

Kwawegen set up the strata company, with its head offices in Crows Nest and Manly, in a blaze of publicity in 2010, taking a number of top apartment buildings from long-established companies with the promise of a more intimate service and efficient processes for cheaper prices.

But Mr Williams said that behind the scenes her personal spending had been “out of control”. Although individual owners had not suffered any monetary losses, “the statutory fund that was contributed to by every other person that operates in that industry, some of whom have operated in the past and some of whom are doing so in the present, have propped this up”.

Defence lawyer Danny Eid said Kwawegen’s business had grown so quickly, she was unable to manage it properly. In addition, she had for a long time suffered “a serious and significant chronic depression”. She had also confessed to suicidal feelings.

Kwawegen wept silently as the sentence was handed down, dabbing at her face with a tissue.

Mr Williams said he took into account that Kwawegen had pleaded guilty to the theft and showed remorse. But he said she needed to be punished, society needed to see that as a deterrent and the community had to be recompensed.

Strata managers collect quarterly levies from apartment owners in order to pay bills for the building and accumulate sinking funds for future repairs and maintenance in a trust fund.

Officers from the Department of Fair Trading launched an investigation into the affairs of The Strata Agency last year. Soon after that it went into liquidation, with its business taken over by former rivals.

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