Advisers jailed for tax fraud

Three advisers to a tax-minimisation scheme have been jailed in the West Australian Supreme Court for five years each for attempted tax fraud of around $26 million.

Following a joint investigation by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and the Australian Crime Commission (ACC), Perth-based accountants Walter Tieleman and Sean Pearce, along with Melbourne accountant Stephen Wharton, were found guilty at trial of conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth.

In jailing the men, Supreme Court Judge John McKechnie says a warning must be sent to others in the industry that fraud cannot be tolerated.

"These men used their professional qualifications and expertise to arrogantly defraud the Commonwealth," Justice McKechnie says.

ACC chief executive officer Alastair Milroy is pleased with the WA court’s ruling.

“This is a credit to the multi-agency taskforce set up to target organised revenue fraud on the Commonwealth. Once again we have a fine example of the ACC working in partnership with the tax office to achieve the best possible result,” Milroy says.

More than 800 people, many in Western Australia's mining regions, were enticed to invest in schemes which offered large tax deductions for each franchise purchased.

All three men will serve 18 months in jail before being eligible for parole.