A former Aucklander has been sentenced in the Alexandra District Court to more than three years’ prison for attempting to evade nearly $1.1 million in PAYE, GST and income tax.
Rupert Faimoa-Magele, 49, was sentenced on 47 charges of tax evasion or attempted tax evasion while sole director and shareholder of security company Blade Group Ltd.
The company provided security services at hospitality venues in Auckland, and for MIQ venues at three hotels in the city during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Inland Revenue said Faimoa-Magele evaded the assessment or payment of $1,077,548.23 payable for GST, employer deductions and income tax between 2018 and 2021, either by failing to file the company’s tax returns or filing returns understating the tax payable.
The company was liquidated in March 2021.
At an earlier hearing, counsel Kieran Tohill said the defendant did not personally benefit from the offending because the money was transferred to an associate.
He worked as a security guard, and only benefited from the company from the wages he earned.
Faimoa-Magele was a "naive" man who was convinced by an associate to set up the company, Mr Tohill said.
"He received money into a bank account and passed it on."
In January, the defendant turned down a sentencing indication given by Judge Michael Turner and denied the charges, but subsequently entered guilty pleas.
The charges were laid in the Alexandra District Court when the defendant was living in Cromwell, but he subsequently moved to Timaru.
A promising rugby union and rugby league player in his youth, Faimoa-Magele served in the Royal New Zealand Navy for four years.
At last week’s sentencing, while a large group of the defendant’s family and friends watched from the public gallery, Judge Turner convicted him and imposed a term of imprisonment of three years and one month.
He did not order reparation because the defendant had no assets or income.
