A man extradited from Australia to face tax charges totalling more than $240,000 was today sentenced to two years and four months imprisonment in the Auckland District Court.

Christopher Goldsmith had earlier pleaded guilty to 69 charges of filing false GST returns.

He was arrested in August 2006 and fled to Australia in September that year while on bail.

Following a joint investigation with the Australian Tax Office, Goldsmith was arrested in Melbourne in August 2007 and extradited back to New Zealand.

Investigations Manager Richard Philp said this case demonstrated that tax fraudsters could not avoid their punishment simply by leaving the country after committing their crime.

“We work closely with our colleagues at the Australian Tax Office to ensure that fraudsters can be caught and punished, even when they leave New Zealand.”

Mr Goldsmith incorporated 11 companies, 10 of which used the identities of other people as directors and shareholders without their knowledge. All these companies claimed GST refunds totalling $243,026.

Mr Philp said that aggravating factors in the case were the high level of premeditation, the sophistication of the operation, the use of innocent peoples’ identities, and the repetitive nature of the fraud.

Source: Inland Revenue Media Release

A second finance company owned by former Capital + Merchant chief executive Owen Tallentire, Numeria Finance, was yesterday placed in receivership owing 480 debenture investors $6.4 million and becoming the 13th failure in the sector over the past two years.

Numeria’s trustee Perpetual Trust said that while the company was associated with Capital + Merchant, its receivership was unrelated, and had been caused by “insufficient cashflows which have put the company in breach of its trust deed”.

Read the full article online >>> NZ Herald – nzherald.co.nz

A Rotorua mother is accused of being Bay of Plenty’s biggest benefit fraudster.

Aroha Collier, of Fordlands, is charged with illegally taking nearly $200,000 in benefit payments over 18 years.

The 43-year-old faces 17 counts of benefit fraud involving $193,000.

Read the full article online >>> Rotorua Daily Post