A former Bay of Plenty businesswoman of the year has been fined $75,000 for tax return offences and ordered to pay $133,000 reparation to Inland Revenue and $15,000 towards costs.
Rae Beverley Adlam, 65, of Tauranga was a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business in the 2008 New Year's Honours List.
At the time of her royal honour, she had an extensive portfolio of business and Maori enterprises spanning four decades and held top positions with a number of government and community organisations including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
In Tauranga District Court yesterday, Adlam pleaded guilty to 24 counts of knowingly filing false tax returns, nine of which related to income tax and GST returns filed in the name of Onepu Geothermal Energy Limited during the tax periods March 2002 to March 2006.
Adlam was a former managing director and shareholder of this company which was registered with the Companies Office from March 29, 1995 to June 13, 2007 but subsequently went into liquidation.