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Darren
Kenneth Ray, 26, was sentenced in the County Court
yesterday after pleading guilty to 10 charges including
obtaining financial advantage by deception and opening
bank accounts in false names.
The
court heard Ray obtained personal details, including tax
file numbers, from people responding to advertisements he
placed on a website for non-existent jobs.
He
used their details to register five businesses for which
he falsely claimed GST refunds totalling $182,281 from the
Australian Tax Office between 2004 and 2006.
Ray
tried to claim another $10,753 in refunds before he was
detected in a tax office audit.
The
court heard he carried out the scheme after reading about
someone who had committed similar offences, and set out to
avoid the pitfalls that had led to detection.
He
spent $120,000 on gambling and the rest on car repayments
and living expenses. He has repaid only $800.
Judge
Jane Campton said Ray was paranoid and depressed when he
began offending after being the target of corruption
allegations connected with his presidency of the union in
2002.
The
union collapsed into administration in 2004 after auditors
identified a $46 million potential liability from a secret
20-year deal for the union to lease student apartments
from a company partly controlled by a former student
politician.
The
court heard Ray now ran a business sub-letting
accommodation to international students.
He
was ordered to serve a minimum of six months and be of
good behaviour for two years after his release.
Source
: The Age - Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia, dated 07/02/2008
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