A FORMER president of the National Institute of Accountants has been sentenced to nearly five years in jail for tax fraud.
Lynette Kathleen Liles, 66, showed no emotion as she was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday on four fraud counts, after pleading guilty in February.
The court heard she facilitated money laundering and tax evasion conspiracies worth millions of dollars for clients, using companies and banks in Vanuatu to channel disguised funds.
A number of clients she helped commit tax fraud have already been jailed after Project Wickenby unpicked the conspiracies used to evade taxation over many years from the 1990s.
Project Wickenby is an ongoing taskforce involving federal police, the tax office and other agencies, aimed at preventing people from promoting or participating in the abuse of tax and secrecy havens.
Justice Monika Schmidt said on Thursday that Liles' offending was a "repeated, deliberate, calculating and systematic fraud on Australian taxpayers".
She said it was a "significant breach of trust on the part of a qualified and highly placed accountant", who was president of the National Institute of Accountants from 1994-96.
Justice Schmidt noted when the tax office started investigating Liles in 2006 she continued to engage in fraudulent activity and tried to conceal it.
She said Liles prepared false tax returns, invoices, profit and loss accounts, loan papers and other documents to disguise money that should have been liable for tax.
The court heard that company profits were transferred to nominee companies in Port Vila then sent back disguised as payments for management, licensing and other fees, claimed as business expenses.
The court heard that Liles made a statement to police, saying she had felt an obligation to help her clients who had become close friends.
Earlier this year, clients of Liles were given jail terms for tax fraud, including air-conditioning business operators Paul and Lesley Mascall and television producers Michael Boughen and Wayne Cameron.
Boughen was the executive producer of Seven's Deal Or No Deal and Cameron was his collaborator on the dating show Perfect Match.
In sentencing, Justice Schmidt noted Liles had medical conditions including possible heart disease, diabetes and hypertension, and had a life expectancy of only another seven years.
She was also the main carer for her ill 71-year-old husband.
Justice Schmidt set a total sentence of eight years and three months but ordered Liles be released after four years and 11 months after taking into account her guilty plea, assistance to police and health.
Liles will have to sign a good behaviour bond on her release in September 2017.
Family members wept outside the court after Liles was sentenced.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Wickenby accounts for veteran accountant
Dengan url
http://beritasementara.blogspot.com/2012/10/wickenby-accounts-for-veteran-accountant.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Wickenby accounts for veteran accountant
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Wickenby accounts for veteran accountant
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar