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Former ATO employee sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment after accepting bribes
A former Australian Taxation Office (ATO) employee has been sentenced by the Parramatta District Court after accepting bribes for reducing millions of dollars in tax debts.
Miranda Brownlee
The offender was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years and six months after being convicted of several offences.
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The former ATO employee accepted bribes from a taxpayer they were auditing in exchange for reducing millions of dollars of personal and business tax debts over a span of six years.
The employee was allegedly paid a $150,000 bribe in exchange for a reduction in a $6 million tax assessment, based on reports by the ABC.
The conduct only ceased after the former employee’s arrest.
The Parramatta District Court convicted the former worker of several contraventions of the Commonwealth Criminal Code yesterday (12 March), including accepting a bribe as a Commonwealth official, abuse of public office and unauthorised access and disclosure of restricted data.
This follows a guilty plea made by the offender in July 2023.
The case stems from Operation Barker, a joint investigation led by the former Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) and the ATO.
ACLEI was subsumed into the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on 1 July 2023, and the NACC took on responsibility for Operation Barker and other investigations.
Operation Barker was supported by the ATO, Australian Federal Police (AFP), NSW Police (NSWPF), the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Since it was established on 1 July, the NACC has already received 2,594 referrals, with 376 referrals under assessment.
The commission is currently conducting 13 corruption investigations, including four joint investigations.
