CANBERRA: Australian tax office has arrested Martin Aithcison and sent to jail for five years on charges of swindling almost $6 million from the tax office. He is 64, lived a life of luxury with his $5.8 million windfall, buying luxury cars, jet skis, a houseboat and property.
His portfolio included a Gold Coast getaway and a house in New Zealand. But Aitchison’s world came crashing down around him after Australian Tax Office officials finally caught up with him. Using his company Aitchison Heavy Haulage, Aitchison clamied millions of dollars in reimbursements for fuel. He told tax officials the company had between 100 and 200 trucks on the road and that he bought fuel in bulk from Mobil.
In reality he was a sole operator with a single truck and trailer, and pumped his own fuel at local garages. Between 2008 and 2013 Aitchison lodged 18 phoney Business Activity Statements claiming the reimbursements. His first, for a relatively meagre $406,000, prompted tax officials to investigate the claim further. Aitchison threw them off course with a pile of fake invoices and documents to support his claim. On his second attempt Aitchison claimed, and was paid, almost $2.4 million in fuel refunds.
Again alarm bells rang at the ATO and Aitchison was asked to explain his case. He did, and went on to make a third claim for just over $3 million that prompted a third succesful audit. It was a fourth, and modest, claim for $600,000 that finally brought Aitchison unstuck. A full audit was launched and his scheme was uncovered. Liquidators have been able to recover just $2 million from Aitchison, whose family have been left broke.
The Victorian County Court heard today Aithcison was personally and financially stressed when he started his ATO scam. He was struggling to make ends meet, and got greedy after his first claim was succesful. Judge Meryl Sexton said Aitchison, who was now severely depressed, kept the scam from his wife and step-children, who believed he was simply doing well as a hard-working truckie.
She said the scam, a serious example of offending, kept $6 million from the government that could have been used to fund essential services. Aitchison pleaded guilty to three counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception from the Commonwealth, and one count of attempting to do so. Imposing a maximum sentence of eight years’ imprisonment, Judge Sexton said Aitchison was unlikely to reoffend. She ordered he be released on a recognisance release order after five years.
