Taytell duo involved in tertiary education rort front court

Evil mother and daughter con artists fleeced Victorian taxpayers of more than $2m in education rort where they referred to students as “sausages”.

South West TAFE in Warrnambool was one of two tertiary institutions the mother and daughter used in the rort.

The architect of an education rort that netted her company more than $2m in taxpayer funding has been jailed while her partner-in-crime daughter has escaped imprisonment.

Rebecca Taylor and daughter Heather Snelleksz ran training company TayTell that fraudulently churned students through courses at South West TAFE in Warrnambool and the Bendigo Kangan Institute in order to cash in on government subsidies.

They earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and appeared in the County Court for sentencing on Monday.

Taylor was sentenced to eight months imprisonment and will undertake four years of Community Corrections Order upon her release from jail.

She will also perform 400 hours of community work.

Her daughter will serve a three-year CCO and perform 250 hours of community work.

TayTell submitted enrolments that incorrectly recorded a group of prospective students as Jetstar employees

Taylor, 56, who owned TayTell, received $2.2m from the Department of Education and

Training but students enrolled in the Certificate IV in Engineering at South West TAFE in Warrnambool and Bendigo Kangan TAFE said they had only received a few hours of instruction, far short of the 1400 hours required to qualify.

The claims began in late 2013 and continued into 2014. The commission began to investigate the matter in late 2015, after a referral by the Victorian Ombudsman.

They enrolled family members in the course as well as those who were not eligible for public funding. TayTell submitted enrolments that incorrectly recorded a group of prospective students as Jetstar employees, including false Jetstar email addresses, and referred to students as “sausages” in coded messages.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission launched Operation Landsdowne which investigated serious suspected corruption in a range of public institutions, including South West TAFE, Bendigo Kangan TAFE, V/Line, as well as several companies.

Former TAFE executive Maurice Molan was fined $2500 by the County Court in September after pleading guilty to one charge of misconduct in public office.

In 2013, Molan engaged TayTell and Taylor to provide third-party training at South West TAFE in Warrnambool for a Certificate IV in engineering.

He entered her into the TAFE’s database as having appropriate qualifications to teach the course, despite not having information to suggest she possessed the minimum certification.

Judge Gerard Mullaly said the scheme must have drained much-needed and scarce public funds from important areas of tertiary training

Rebecca Taylor and Heather Snelleksz referred to students as “sausages” in coded messages

He said tertiary training provided by the TAFE sector was vital to the economy and to indivi

duals who sought work, promotion or advancement at work.

TAFE courses are subsidised and the tertiary institutions operated in a highly competitive environment and in accordance with standard practices, he said.

“But for the criminally-motivated, individuals like you, you simply use personal information gained from other sources and deceptively assert that training was provided when it was not.

“It is virtually taking significant amounts of public money for doing nothing,” Judge Mullaly said.

The mother and daughter now live in Queensland. Taylor’s family home and vehicle were forfeited and her family relocated to Queensland during legal proceedings.