Hoppers Crossing Indian student jailed over $100k tax fraud

A Hoppers Crossing student who sent more than $100,000 of taxpayers’ money back to India as part of a two-year tax fraud scheme has been jailed.

An Indian student from Hoppers Crossing has been jailed after he ripped off the ATO.

An Indian student from Hoppers Crossing has been jailed for eight months over a $100,000 tax fraud.

Computer networking student Tharun Likki, 31, used illegally obtained Australian student visa details of other Indian nationals to generate tax file numbers, then lodged fake tax returns in their names for financial benefit.

Likki pleaded guilty in the County Court to attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception and dealing with proceeds of crime, after the Australian Taxation Office paid him $117,540 in refunds as a result of his fraudulent claims.

The court heard Likki lodged 22 false income tax returns between July 2013 and September 2015.

Likki told the court he had been pressured into taking part in the scheme by his older brother, Varun Likki, and friend Ranjith Goli, who were the “architects of the fraudulent scheme”.

Tax refunds were paid into accounts held by Goli or Varun, and transferred to Likki’s account then sent to India.

Judge Paul Higham said while Likki’s involvement in the scheme had not been as significant he had been “integral in moving the funds out of the jurisdiction”.

“It is clear that once the funds were in your account, your task was simply to get the proceeds of crime out of the country and into the hands of the architects of the criminal scheme,” he said.

“(But) you knew full well what you were doing and, in my view, you knew full well that it was wrong.”

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Judge Higham said “a fraud on the taxation office is a fraud upon the community as a whole” and jail time was the only appropriate sentence for Likki’s crimes.

“Tax evasion is not a game and it is not a victimless crime, but rather it is a form of corruption which debases the community at large,” he said.

“Monies paid as tax revenues are then used to make provisions in essential areas, such as health, education, transport and infrastructure, for those citizens who do not have the means to make such provision themselves.”

Likki was sentenced to two years and three months’ imprisonment but will be released in eight months on a recognisance release order.

To be released he must pay $2000 and be of good behaviour for 19 months.