Comanchero boss Mick Murray facing bankruptcy over $3.72 million tax office payment
COMANCHERO’S boss Mick Murray and his wife Debbie Pitman are facing bankruptcy after being ordered to cough up almost $4 million to the tax office, as part of a crackdown on bikies.
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COMANCHERO’S boss Mick Murray and his wife, Debbie Pitman, are facing bankruptcy after being ordered to cough up almost $4 million to the tax office,which is cracking down on outlaw bikie gangs.
Just four days before Christmas, the Supreme Court ordered the couple to pay $3.72 million in taxes, interest and penalties.
The couple was a target of the National Anti-Gangs Squad, which was set up under the federal government’s National Organised Crime Response Plan 2015-2018.
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Police raided Murray in February 2014 and seized financial documents. The couple’s affairs were referred to the Australian Taxation Office, which assessed them as having failed to pay income tax between 2008 and 2013.
The level of concern about outlaw motorcycle gangs is such that at one point the ATO considered protecting the identity of auditors.
Ms Pitman sought to argue in court that she shouldn’t be held liable, as Murray had been using her accounts.
But Associate Justice Mark Derham rejected the claim and ordered the couple to pay up.
“Murray and Piman’s defences have no real prospect of success,” said Associate Justice Mark Derham.
“There is at present no reason … why costs should not follow.”
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Murray, the national president of the Comancheros outlaw bikie gang, is facing prison time of up to two years, although details of his offence cannot be published.
Murray has long been a target of the Echo taskforce, especially since he emerged as the national Comanchero boss in 2013.
Thought to be an enforcer in the security industry, he was also investigated over the shooting of disgraced sports scientist Stephen Dank.
In August, Murray stood and watched a brawl at a strip club in Canberra during the club’s national “run’’.
CCTV footage showed him making no attempt to control violence at the Capital Men’s Club.
A close ally of former president Jay Malkoun, Murray has been fighting the ATO over what it says is a $13 million debt, which it has been attempting to claw back from him.