A co-owner of the Masala Restaurant chain has been jailed for three years and two months for hiding more than $6.5 million in cash sales.
Rupinder Singh Chahil was sentenced today at the Auckland High Court, where he also received a $50,000 fine and nine money laundering charges and 34 tax evasion charges, according to statement from Inland Revenue.
An accountant, Vijay Kumar Gupta, was also sentenced today. He received 10 months home detention and a $5000 fine.
"Chahil provided 114 individual GST returns to Inland Revenue on behalf of the Masala Related Companies, which together concealed more than $6.5 million of mainly cash sales, said Inland Revenue spokesperson Tony Morris in a statement.
“The tax offending was linked inescapably to the money laundering but the money laundering was far more complex, involving multiple bank accounts here and overseas," said Mr Morris.
Gupta transferred the money to banks overseas and purchased significant amounts of foreign currency before bringing the money back to New Zealand.
The tax offending went on for six years, from April 2008 to April 2014, with two-monthly false returns to Inland Revenue.
The money laundering occurred over 14 months from February 15 2012 to April 2013.
“The investigation took longer than it should have because Chahil had false responses prepared to deliberately frustrate the inquiries. IR’s investigation into the money laundering meant contacting tax authorities in Australia and India where he and Gupta tried to hide their criminal proceeds,” said Mr Morris.
Gupta and Chahil knew each other through their community and business associations.
An earlier version of this story contained errors which have been corrected
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