Robert Belteky: ATO investigates boss accused of $10m car park fraud

Court documents reveal that the ATO has been sifting through the finances of former Care Park managing director Robert Belteky.

Car park mogul Robert Belteky was managing director of Care Park.

EXCLUSIVE: A car park boss accused of more than $10m in fraud against his former employer has also been under investigation by the Tax Office, court documents show.

In a Federal Court lawsuit filed last week, Care Park, which runs parking lots in Australia, the UK and Hungary, accused its former managing director, Robert Belteky, of running a decade of scams against it that included funnelling millions of dollars to two Hungarian soccer clubs.

Care Park told the court it sacked Mr Belteky, who had been managing director of the company since 2009, for “serious and wilful misconduct” in November last year.

To support some of its allegations, the company cited an ATO audit of Mr Belteky over his income between 2016 and 2018.

It attached a “position paper” – a document the ATO sends to people as part of the audit process – dated 1 October 2020 to its court paperwork.

The Federal Court removed this document before providing News Corp with Care Park’s legal filings.

Robert Belteky. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones.

However, Care Park used it to support allegations that Mr Belteky had the company pay almost $918,000 into his personal account at Hungarian bank OTP in 2017 and 2018.

The company alleges that “the majority of funds received in the OTP Bank account were subsequently transferred to Ujbuda Kft and Budafoki Kft”, which are football clubs that play in Hungary’s second and third-tier leagues.

“Ujbuda Kft and Budafoki Kft used the funds they received from the OTP bank account to pay for their football club operation expenses, including the payment of player wages,” Care Park told the court.

Football team Budafoki MTE, based in Budapest, Hungary.

Care Park also relied on the ATO position paper to support its allegation that more than $850,000 in credit card spending borne by the company was spent on lifestyle items including airfares, jewellery, watches, cruises, food and entertainment.

Between 2016 and 2018 the two credit cards, an American Express and a Visa card, “were used exclusively for your private expenses”, the ATO said in a portion of the position paper quoted by Care Park in its statement of claim.

The company also accuses Mr Belteky of cheating it over a property deal involving 11 carparking spaces at a mall in Hindley St, Adelaide that were leased to a competitor.

It told the court Mr Belteky bought half the carpark in 2018 “and therefore put his personal interests in direct conflict with his pre-existing and continuing duty as the sole director of” Care Park.

The company also accuses him of cheating it by arranging for it to buy the other half of the property last year for $400,000 – close to the $430,000 the entire parking lot fetched in 2018.

Mr Belteky has not yet filed a defence to Care Park’s court case but his daughter, Samantha Belteky, has told News Corp the family intends to fight the allegations.

No criminal charges have been laid over Care Park’s allegations.