Rocco Arico’s parents lose Supreme Court battle over unpaid taxes
THE parents of gangland jailbird Rocco Arico have been ordered to cough up more than $2 million in unpaid taxes.
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THE parents of gangland jailbird Rocco Arico have been ordered to pay the Australian Taxation Office more than $2 million.
Antonio and Antonia Arico and daughter-in-law Franki were notably absent from the Supreme Court on Tuesday, where Justice Maree Kennedy crushed their hopes of a merry Christmas.
MAFIA KINGPIN ROCCO ARICO JAILED FOR 14 YEARS
The couple had hoped to secure a variation on a court order freezing their assets, in the hope of raising $275,000 to pay their legal expenses.
The request followed an embarrassing self-represented court appearance by Franki Arico in August where she told the court her in-laws were broke.
She also told Justice Kennedy that her in-laws did not believe they owed the ATO any money, and were unemployed and could not afford a barrister.
“They’ll fight for what they believe. They feel like they’re being a little bit bullied by the ATO,” she said.
Last week, Franki Arico was ordered to apologise to the court and a reporter after she snapped his photo in the courtroom.
Lawyers acting for the ATO opposed not only the variation, but a stay in the proceeding until March, on the grounds they did not believe the couple had been honest about the assets they possessed.
This year, Rocco Arico was jailed for 14 years for drug trafficking, extortion and weapons offences.
Considered one of Australia’s most powerful crime figures, he had a property portfolio estimated to be worth about $10 million.
The ATO believes the family disposed of millions of dollars of assets before the freeze, implemented by the Office of Public Prosecutions and the ATO.
Justice Kennedy’s order means the tax office can now collect the money it is owed.
But Ian Martindale, QC, for the ATO, told the court the tax office would not attempt to collect the money before the end of January.
Even then, the tax commissioner could hold off bankrupting the couple until after their appeal in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal is heard in March.
The tax office is then expected to swoop on the couple’s Brunswick St property and properties at Safety Beach as well as a bathing box.
In making her decision, Justice Kennedy said she could not be satisfied the couple had made full disclosure of their assets.
She was also critical of the couple for playing down the value of their home — $750,000 vs. $1.3 million.
“I am unable to be satisfied that the Brunswick West property is the only
asset remaining (from which legal fees ought be drawn) as the defendants seek to
assert,” she said.
The Arico’s had hoped to be cut some slack by the judge on the grounds of “extreme hardship”.
Last week, their barrister Andrew Tragardh said his clients “have no funds to pay anyone to do anything ... The evidence is clear (they) don’t have the money.”
The order over the couple’s Brunswick West home restricts them to just $500 a week for living expenses.
An order was also made for the ATO’s legal costs to be paid by the family.