Mbari Bounis Ambri pleads guilty over ATO scam, Brisbane’s District Court hears

The family of a teen fraudster who scammed nearly $400,000 from the tax office before a lavish spending spree have stood by him in court.

Family members of alleged Brisbane gang member Mbari Bounis Ambri leave the District Court in Brisbane. Ambri was sentenced over his role in defrauding the government of $400,000. Picture: NewsWire

A teenager who scammed the Australian Tax Office out of nearly $400,000 spent the profits on designer goods before being busted in a major GST scam crackdown.

Mbari Bounis Ambri was just 19 when he took part in a GST refund scheme to scam the ATO out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, Brisbane’s District Court heard at his sentence on Wednesday.

The court heard Ambri, who had been abusing multiple substances including MDMA and Xanax at the time, had created a fake ABN and made multiple GST claims, from which he received $50,634.

He received a further $345,065.65 from 27 fraudulent lodgements made by other persons – with a combined total of just under $400,000, the court heard.

The court heard Ambri had used some of the money for personal expenses including a designer watch, but also transferred large portions to accounts belonging to other individuals.

Ambri, now 23, was taken back into custody after his sentence on Wednesday, in which the court heard he had already been remanded for 617 days before being granted bail.

He had pleaded guilty earlier this year to three counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception and one count of dealing in the proceeds of crime worth $100,000 or more.

Judge Ian Dearden said the offending was part of a “very substantial and significant dishonest scheme to defraud the Commonwealth”.

Family members of alleged Brisbane gang member Mbari Bounis Ambri leave the District Court in Brisbane. Picture: NewsWire

“It’s quite clear to me it’s part of a bigger scheme,” he said.

Judge Dearden said Ambri had been on three different probation orders at the time and had a “concerning” criminal history for his age.

Defence barrister Cecelia Bernardin said Ambri had been “vulnerable” at the time as he was taking up to seven Xanax tablets a day and also using alcohol, cannabis and MDMA.

She said Ambri also had been unemployed and struggling with living expenses, but accepted that was no excuse for his actions.

Ambri had acquired Australian citizenship after moving to the country from Sudan when he was just 2, Ms Bernardin said.

She said he had graduated high school in Ipswich and was now employed at a meatworks.

Despite Ms Bernardin submitting Ambri would have limited capacity to pay reparations, Judge Deardan ordered he repay the $50,634 obtained from his own GST claims.

Judge Dearden labelled Ambri’s offending as “deliberate and sustained and utterly dishonest process by you to defraud the scheme, which relies on the honesty of tax payers … to run as efficiently as possible”.

“ … When the Commonwealth is defrauded, we all ultimately pay the cost.”

Ambri was sentenced to four-and-a-half years imprisonment, with a non parole period of 551 days – which was declared time already served.

Ambri was taken back into custody, however, where he will have to make an application for parole before being released.

Originally published as Mbari Bounis Ambri pleads guilty over ATO scam, Brisbane’s District Court hears