AFP phone tap evidence to be heard in Cranston case

A jury will today hear former deputy tax commissioner Michael Cranston talking to his son about an ailing payroll firm on Australian Federal Police phone taps.

• Ex-tax boss has ‘affectionate relationship’ with son, court heard

A jury will on Friday hear former deputy tax commissioner Michael Cranston talking to his son about an ailing payroll firm on Australian Federal Police phone taps.

Prosecutors intend to play about 20 calls between Mr Cranston, his son Adam Cranston and others during evidence from AFP investigator Kristie Cressy.

Michael Cranston with an unidentified woman, walking into the Downing Centre court complex in central Sydney on Thursday morning. Picture: Monique Harmer

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Mr Cranston has pleaded not guilty to two charges of using his position to benefit Adam, in a District Court trial which began on Wednesday.

Yesterday the jury heard evidence from an Australian Taxation Office auditor who said the company Plutus Payroll owed more than $46 million in taxes.

A letter informing the company it had underpaid GST by almost $25 million and Pay As You Go Withholding tax of about $22 million, was delivered with Michael Cranston’s own signature on it.

The jury heard the company SYNEP, of which Adam was a director, had agreed to buy Plutus Payroll for $5 million from Adam’s business associate Simon Anquetil.

Plutus Payroll’s tax debts resulted in the ATO issuing garnishee orders in April 2017, which froze millions of dollars in its Commonwealth Bank accounts.

The jury heard salary payments had stopped flowing to workers at Plutus Payroll’s client companies and the workers had been complaining to the media.

Prosecutors allege Adam reached out to his father to discuss the problem before Michael Cranston raised the issue with his subordinate, assistant commissioner Tony Poulakis.