A Central Otago man has been sentenced to 3 years and 1 month in prison on tax evasion charges.

Rupert Faimoa-Magele was sentenced in the Alexandra District Court on 23 August on 47 charges of evading or attempting to evade the assessment and or payment of GST, PAYE and income tax by Blade Group Limited, a company of which Faimoa-Magele was the sole director and shareholder and sole signatory of the bank accounts.

Blade Group Limited predominantly provided security for hospitality venues. But during the COVID pandemic, the company also provided security to MIQ venues at three Auckland hotels, for which it was paid more than $300,000 by the government.

Over 36 months, Faimoa-Magele evaded the assessment and/or payment of $1,077,548.23 payable for GST, Employer deductions, and Income Tax by a mixture of not filing Blade Group Limited’s tax returns and filing some returns that materially understated the tax payable.

Faimoa-Magele was the sole person in charge of the GST accounting and return filing, the wage payments and the PAYE filing.

Blade Group Limited was placed into receivership in January 2021. It was later also placed into liquidation on Inland Revenue’s application in March 2021. All available funds went to the secured creditor who appointed the receiver.

Faimoa-Magele was not ordered to pay reparation because he has no assets or means to pay.

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