Man jailed for $365,000 tax scam

An immigration consultant who stole the identities of more than 30 clients in a scam that defrauded Inland Revenue of $365,000 was yesterday sentenced to three years nine months in jail.

Sione Peau Tuimana, a 37-year-old Tongan with New Zealand residency, admitted 65 charges of using a document with intent to defraud in Palmerston North and Manukau.

The Palmerston North District Court was told his eight-year scam resulted in losses totalling $365,000 to the department between 1996 and 2004.

Tuimana used his clients' IRD numbers without their knowledge to claim rebates and family assistance to which they were not entitled, the court was told.

He helped clients with applications for tourist visas, residency permits and other immigration-related matters in New Zealand and Tonga.

His work gave him access to clients' birth certificates and family details, which he used to file forged rebate claim forms, income tax returns and family assistance claims with Inland Revenue.

IRD senior manager Richard Philp said an investigation was launched after the department noticed "some suspicious rebate claims".

"In his role as a consultant for immigration purposes, people gave him [Tuimana] a fairly broad range of personal information. Armed with that, he used it for entirely different purposes," Mr Philp said. Those "purposes" involved using clients' details to have money paid into his own account.

Though no order for reparation was made by Judge Nevin Dawson, Tuimana could receive a bill for unpaid taxes on the $365,000, Mr Philp said.

"Technically, the $365,000 was income ... he could receive a tax bill. We will work through the implications of that."

Tuimana's offending had tarnished the reputations of his victims, and technically left them open to IRD action. But Mr Philp said the department would take steps to ensure they were not persecuted for Tuimana's crimes.

Though Tuimana's offending was not the most serious he had seen, Mr Philp said the breach of trust and amount of money stolen qualified the theft as "a fairly significant offence".

IRD's Manukau service centre manager, Loraine Elliot, described Tuimana's prison term as "a strong reminder that the courts take this type of offending seriously".

"People who deliberately flout the law are a small minority. (But) we continue to take a firm approach with this group in fairness to the majority who do the right thing."

- NZPA