Company directors sentenced under Project Wickenby

15 May 2012

Media release 2012/13

The courts continue to send a strong message about their low tolerance for tax cheats by imposing significant jail terms.

Three company directors have been sentenced to a total of nine years jail for tax fraud following joint investigations by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) under Project Wickenby.

Company director Paul Mascall was convicted and sentenced to four years jail with a non-parole period of two years for defrauding the Commonwealth. His wife Lesley Mascall was sentenced to three years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 months. Their business partner Paul Sewell received the equivalent of a two year suspended sentence.

As co-directors of an air conditioning company the trio used illegal 'round-robin' schemes, where money labelled as 'company expenses' was transferred to a Vanuatu account and returned 'tax-free' to the taxpayers' personal accounts.

In the last few weeks the courts have confirmed community expectations that tax cheats will be dealt with sternly and appropriately including by increasing sentences on appeal. This latest conviction brings the total number of criminal convictions under Project Wickenby to 26.

In Tuesday's Federal Budget the Government committed an additional $76.8 million to Project Wickenby to continue the fight against taxpayers using offshore secrecy jurisdictions to evade their taxation obligations. There are 12 investigations covering many entities and 248 reviews and audits underway and more about to commence.

"The net is closing in on promoters and participants in offshore secrecy arrangements, so if you have engaged in tax schemes that make abusive use of tax secrecy jurisdictions or have undeclared foreign income or capital gains from the sale of assets overseas, now is the time to talk to the ATO about correctly meeting your tax obligations," Mr D'Ascenzo said.

For information on how to make a voluntary disclosure please visit the ATO website or phone 13 28 61.

Project Wickenby

Project Wickenby is a cross-agency taskforce between the ATO, Australian Federal Police, Australian Crime Commission, Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, with support from the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, the Australian Government Solicitor and the Attorney-General's Department and plays a role in the Australian Government's fight against tax evasion, avoidance and crime.

What is a secrecy jurisdiction?

A secrecy jurisdiction is a country, region or state that does not divulge information about an individual's financial/banking affairs or structures. These arrangements may be exploited to conceal income and evade tax because they do not have effective information exchange arrangements with Australia.

For more information about Project Wickenby go to www.ato.gov.au/wickenby.