Tax Case Witness Charge Dumped
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday May 6, 2008
A LAWYER has landed a blow against the Australian Crime Commission after a magistrate dismissed a charge that he failed to give evidence before one of its investigators at a secret hearing.
The magistrate, Phillip Goldberg, ruled in Melbourne yesterday that Michael Brereton did not have a case to answer after he refused to swear an oath at a hearing of the commission in March 2006, because of a technical oversight by the investigator. The finding is an embarrassment for the commission, which now has the option of presenting Mr Brereton directly for trial in the County Court. It has spent five years investigating Mr Brereton in connection with its Operation Wickenby examination of offshore tax rorts. In a statement yesterday, the commission's chief executive, Alastair Milroy, described Wickenby as a complex and wide-ranging investigation. "The ACC and its partner agencies will continue to target and prosecute those allegedly involved in schemes to fraudulently evade taxation responsibility," Mr Milroy said. The music promoter Glenn Wheatley was jailed for 15 months last July in the $300 million investigation's only successful prosecution to date. Last week two men were charged with defrauding the Commonwealth in connection to Operation Wickenby. They are Robert Agius, 58, a former Sydney accountant living in Vanuatu, and the leading sports and entertainment lawyer Paul John Gregory, 59, of Wahroonga. The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard last week that Gregory allegedly helped set up offshore trusts and companies that were used by Wheatley in 2003 to avoid paying tax on earnings from promoting a boxing match between Kostya Tszyu and Jesse James Leija. Brereton showed little emotion when the magistrate delivered his finding yesterday. He declined to comment outside court. A transcript of the secret hearing, tendered to the magistrates court in March, revealed a terse exchange as a commission examiner, Tim Sage, repeatedly asked Mr Brereton to take the stand and swear an oath or affirmation. The request was met with silence by Mr Brereton. His lawyer, Peter Faris, QC, said: "Mr Brereton will not be saying anything or moving from where he is." Mr Sage said Mr Brereton could choose to swear an oath or affirmation, and read out an approved affirmation. But Mr Goldberg said Mr Sage's failure to provide an alternative oath rendered the examination invalid. Mr Brereton therefore had no case to answer. Michael West - Page 22
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald