Businessmen Seang Leng Heng, Nathan Sarinn and Nay Chy on trial for defrauding government of $4.5 million in tax
Foreign students who couldn’t speak English were made directors of labour hire companies so three businessman could steal millions of dollars in tax after providing their workers to iconic SA companies, a court has heard.
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Three businessman used foreign students who could not speak English to create a string of companies which provided labour to iconic SA businesses – but at the same time they were scamming more than $4 million from the taxman, a court has heard.
Seang Leng Heng, 43, Nathan Sarinn, 42, and Nay Chy, 48, are accused of creating six shell companies, three of which had directors who were in the country on student visas, in an attempt to cover up a two year-long fraud.
Murray Bridge abattoir and Mount Barker Strawberries were among the primary producers to use the companies, which provided legitimate labour hire services.
The trio are now at the centre of the of the most complicated white collar crime trials to be heard in the District Court after being charged with conspiracy to defraud the Federal Government.
The trial, is expected to last more than five weeks with the jury being presented thousands of documents, multiple volumes of spreadsheets and the testimony of expert forensic accountants.
The three men have translators in the dock who convert the proceedings into Khmer, the official language of Cambodia which is also spoken in parts of Thailand and Vietnam.
In his opening address to the jury Adam Kimber SC, acting for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, said the men had created a “deliberate and dishonest conspiracy” to withhold millions of dollars from the government.
Mr Kimber said the trio would create a labour hire company, installing someone else as the director, and start providing workers to various primary industry companies.
As the money started rolling in, the trio are accused of withdrawing both the money held as GST for the services they were providing and the funds set aside as tax withheld from their workers.
The money would be physically withdrawn from the accounts and when suspicion started to rise, they would abandon the company and start another.
Between 2011 and 2013 the trio are accused of starting six companies and defrauding $2.2m in GST and $2.3m in taxes held from their workers.
Mr Kimber said the jury would hear how all three men were linked to the companies in a variety of ways.
All three had experience in the labour hire industry, having been directors of their own companies.
Heng allegedly had records relating to the six companies in his home, which was raided by police in 2013.
Sarinn was accused of organising public liability insurance for all the companies, making withdrawals from the company accounts and also storing records in his house.
The court heard that Chy had involvement with the primary producers who would hire workers from the company and was linked to $2 million in withdrawals from the companies.
The companies rented 18 separate houses in Murray Bridge to provide housing for their workers at the nearby abattoir, which is owned by Thomas Foods.
The court heard that Heng could be linked to five of the properties and Sarinn to seven others.
The trial continues this week.