Reginald Roberts created fake entities to lodge 75 fraudulent claims
A South Australian is found guilty of gaining more than $3.8 million of taxpayer money by creating fake transport businesses and lodging false fuel rebate claims.
Reginald Roberts was charged with obtaining a financial advantage by deception at the District Court of South Australia, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) reported.
A sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment is in addition to an existing drug offence, with jail time for the combined offences being 20 years and six months, including a non-parole period of 14 years.
Between 2002 and 2006, Roberts, who already operated trucking businesses in South Australia, created three additional companies – Double R Logistics, Inter Link Freight Services, and Phillip Williams Pty Ltd, the ATO explained.
He used false identities and lodged 75 fraudulent claims for more than 20 million litres of fuel, with no evidence that it was ever purchased or used under the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme and the Energy Grants Credit Scheme, which were designed to allow heavy road transport businesses to claim back 18.51 cents per litre of fuel used.
Following investigation, it was found that no trucks were registered to the businesses at the time, and searches at Roberts’ home and business found no business records.
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“This outcome demonstrates the ATO’s commitment to detecting and prosecuting tax crimes, no matter how long it has been,” ATO assistant commissioner Ian Read said in response to the sentence.
“We have a duty to the community to protect the integrity of the tax and super systems, and we have no tolerance for blatant fraud like we have seen in this case.
“Mr Roberts obtained an unfair advantage over Australians who are doing the right thing, robbing the Australian economy of millions that could have been spent on essential services.
“Tax crime is not victimless.
“Our investigation of large quantities of irrelevant documentation provided by Mr Roberts was described as a ‘Herculean’ task by his Honour Judge Stretton.
“This matter demonstrates we have the resources to actively uncover those trying to cheat the tax system.”
The Diesel and Alternative Fuel Grants Scheme and the Energy Grants Credit Scheme ran from 2000 to 2003, and 2003 to 2006 respectively before being replaced by fuel tax credits.
This scheme provides eligible businesses with a credit for the fuel tax that’s included in the price of fuel used in machinery, plant, equipment, heavy vehicles and light vehicles travelling off public or private roads.
“We have approximately 256,000 fuel tax credit registered clients and generally see high levels of compliance,” Read said.
“We undertake targeted compliance activity to address aggressive claiming and deliberate non-compliance and while most people do the right thing, those who deliberately try to cheat the tax system can expect to feel the full force of the law.”