A Balclutha livestock agent has been sentenced to 12 months home detention for fraud

John Francis Williams has been sentenced in the Dunedin High Court today on charges brought about by the Serious Fraud Office.

He's pleaded guilty to charges of false accounting, obtaining by deception and causing loss by deception.

Williams was employed by Rural Livestock Limited - the largest privately-owned livestock and station company in the South Island.

Rural Livestock has suffered approximately $1.3 million in losses as the direct result of his offending.