The ATO has reported (on its website) that a man was convicted in the Sydney District Court (Tupman J) on 2 June 2017 of conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth and sentenced to 5.5 years’ jail following a complex investigation by the ATO.
The ATO said that, between 2002 and 2007, the man conspired to defraud the Commonwealth of $10.5 million by engaging in fraudulent behaviour during the construction of a golf course. The man’s fraud involved the use of multiple related companies which grossly inflated sale prices between themselves and then finally failed to remit the GST to the ATO. In addition, the ATO said the man’s companies failed to supply goods and services to the developments. There were numerous other techniques and attempts to conceal the fraud, including large-scale and complex round-robin transactions, according to the ATO.
The ATO said the man is currently serving a 5-year jail term for separate fraud crimes involving a Sydney property where he and his co-conspirators prepared and lodged nearly $3.1 million in fraudulent BASs.
[LTN 106, 7/6/17]