The two directors of an Auckland cleaning company have been sentenced to community detention for GST fraud committed over many years.
Bimlesh Vishal Sharma and Prashita Narayan faced a representative charge of using a document with intent to obtain a pecuniary advantage.
They claimed $189,051.84 in GST refunds when financial records showed the company should have paid GST of $25,224.20.
Sharma and Narayan said they were motivated by financial pressures and had heard from friends and family that nobody would find out if they defrauded Inland Revenue by filing inaccurate GST returns.
They acknowledged that they knew what they were doing was wrong and they could get in trouble for it one day.
The pair entered a guilty plea to the charge and were sentenced yesterday in the Manukau District Court.
They have since repaid the bulk of the money they obtained fraudulently and were ordered to pay full reparations at $50 each a week, alongside six months community detention and community work.
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