Accountant pleads guilty to $2m SFO charges
An accountant who misused $2 million of client funds has pleaded guilty to a raft of fraud charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office.
An accountant who misused $2 million of client funds has pleaded guilty to a raft of fraud charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office.
Ian Victor Petersen, a 61 year old man from Waikanae, pleaded guilty today in the Porirua District Court to 13 counts of theft by a person required to account, 19 counts of theft by person in special relationship, one count of using a document with intent to defraud and one count of dishonestly using a document.
The charges relate to the misuse of client funds, which were paid to Mr Petersen by various clients for specific purposes, including the payment of tax, various investments and forestry management fees, and the use of certain documents for the purpose of reducing a tax liability.
The SFO says that Mr Petersen, while acting as an accountant, tax agent and investment advisor, obtained a total of $2,000,292.97 relating to 17 clients over a 13 year period.
Chief executive Adam Feeley said the result was the continuation of a very busy and successful year for the SFO and the result of interagency cooperation with the Inland Revenue and the NZ Police.
“In the first five months of this financial year we have commenced 15 new investigations; laid almost 400 charges in nine cases; and secured nine convictions or guilty pleas including this matter.”
Mr Feeley said that further cases would be completed before the end of the year.
“Having reduced our investigation times by 70% in the past 18 months, the public can reasonably expect to see more timely justice in the case of white collar crimes.”
A number of Mr Petersen’s clients are still in discussions with Inland Revenue regarding their outstanding tax liabilities, which arose as a result of Mr Petersen failing to pass on funds given to him by his clients for the purpose of making tax payments on their behalf.
Niko Kloeten
Thu, 02 Dec 2010
Thu, 02 Dec 2010
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Accountant pleads guilty to $2m SFO charges
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