A former financial planner and a former insurance company director have been cited by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as two men who have been convicted of serious tax offences following successful investigations under the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT).
The ATO announced this week that a 61-year-old former financial adviser, Jeffrey Conklin, was on Friday convicted in the Sydney District Court for tax fraud offences totalling over $700,000, resulting in him being sentenced to five years and nine months imprisonment with a non-parole period of two and a half years.
The ATO said the court had been told that Conklin used a scheme involving various offshore entities and trusts to hide his income and then attempted to conceal the return of this income to Australia. He subsequently left Australia and was arrested at the border when attempting to re-enter the country in June 2014.
The ATO also referred to 55-year-old former insurance company director, Charles Pretten, who was convicted and sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court in late April to five years imprisonment with a two-year non-parole period for failing to declare income in his income tax returns for the 2003 and 2009 financial years.
The court had been told Pratten used a web of offshore entities in Vanuatu, including trusts and companies, to conceal approximately $4.552 million in income from the ATO, resulting in a tax shortfall of approximately $2.055 million.
It said Pratten used the funds to support a lavish lifestyle, buying multiple properties, a helicopter and luxury boat.
The ATO noted the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) last week lodged an appeal with the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in the matter of Pratten as it was of the view that the sentence imposed was manifestly inadequate for the crimes he committed.
