Tania Rosella Tahana, 45, faces jail after defrauding $600k to fund her luxury lifestyle
Tania Tahana, a stalwart of the Bungendore community, rorted $663,000 from her boss and blew it on a life of luxury.
Canberra Star
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A woman who spent years volunteering at the Bungendore show lived a secret double life as a white collar fraudster, rorting more than $600,000 from her boss to fund a lavish lifestyle.
The ACT Supreme Court heard Tania Rosella Tahana, 45, the former chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Yellow Edge, for more than four years manipulated company books and siphoned money into her the joint bank account she shared with her husband.
Tahana, of Wamboin, NSW, earned more than $170,000 a year by the time her fraud was uncovered, pleaded guilty in March to dishonestly obtaining $663,745 from the company between 2009 and 2013.
ACT Supreme Court Justice John Burns on Thursday said it was “inevitable that a relatively lengthy term of imprisonment will be imposed” when he sentences Tahana in February.
Tahana has been behind bars since last month, when she failed to front court.
Court records show Tahana splurged on two swimming pools at her large rural property and on business class flights to Europe for herself and her husband, Robert Galloway.
Mr Galloway was never charged and is not accused of any wrongdoing, and told police in an interview that Tahana controlled all of the couple’s finances, because “she was better at it”.
Mr Galloway, who supported Tahana in court, agreed the couple were big spenders, but told police he believed they both earned good incomes and he believed they were living within their means.
“He said that he had thought the cost of the business class airfares to Europe in late 2013 were excessive and unnecessary (but) she informed him that as it was their 10th wedding anniversary they could afford it and insisted they travel business class,” a summary of his police interview says.
In 2016, Tahana repaid the company $375,000 as part of a civil settlement.
Her criminal history includes using forged cheques to buy a used Ford Laser, an offence which Crown prosecutor Anthony Williamson said was “strikingly similar” to her most recent fraud.
Tahana’s barrister, Jason Moffett, said his client had a strong record of community service, including volunteering for the Bungendore community, including as assistant chief steward at the Bungendore Show.
Justice Burns will sentence Tahana on January 28.