More than $700k sent to director’s wife in alleged $120m GST scam

David Marin-Guzman and Max Mason

Apr 10, 2025 – 7.27pm

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Someone at the collapsed Virtical pub empire, which is facing allegations of a $120 million GST fraud, transferred more than $700,000 to the wife of the company’s director in a series of mysterious transactions that she told a court she could not remember.

Judith Palasty, wife of former Virtical director John Palasty, told a Federal Court examination on Thursday she had no recollection of more than 20 transactions that Virtical made citing her name from 2023 to 2024.

David Marin-Guzman writes about industrial relations, workplace, policy and leadership from Sydney.

Max Mason covers financial crime, courts and corporate wrongdoing. A Walkley Award winner, Max’s journalism has also received awards from the National Press Club of Australia, the Kennedy Awards and Citibank. Message Max on Signal https://tinyurl.com/MaxMason