Photo: Paul RickardMatawai farmer John Bracken, who became New Zealand's biggest tax fraudster to date when he fleeced Inland Revenue for $17.3 million through bogus GST refund claims, has been jailed for eight years and six months. It enabled him to claim input tax on product he never received and to evade payment of output tax. Gisborne accountancy firm Bain and Sheppard unwittingly prepared Bracken's GST returns based on information in his bank accounts and the false invoices he supplied. He and the two women who created the false invoices were not subject to prosecution. Justice Lang noted Bracken did not directly confront the Crown's allegations, particularly with regard to arranging the creation of the invoices.

Source: Otago Daily Times May 11, 2021 01:18 UTC