More crooked accountants exposed

More accountants’ dodgy dealings have been revealed in a series of disciplinary tribunal hearings this afternoon.

Tuakau accountant Neil Jack Mercer, who is serving a two-year jail sentence after being convicted of theft by a person in a special relationship, was struck off and ordered to pay $8047 costs to the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

In addition to the theft conviction, Mercer also had his SME Business Systems business placed into liquidation after he dodged paying PAYE and GST owed to the Inland Revenue Department.

However, earlier strikings off, including that of Geraldine accountant Shilo Marie King, who acted as lookout as her brother pummelled an elderly man, and Stephen John Roberts, who defrauded his own clients, pale in comparison to the background of the striking off of Shaan Stevens.

Stevens is a former chairman of Wellington Free Ambulance, former member of the Victoria University council and a former associate commissioner on the Commerce Commission.

He was suspended from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in December after being convicted of 22 offences in the Wellington District Court in September.

He was found guilty of seven charges of using documents with intent to defraud, 13 of being party to using documents, one of providing false income returns between 2006 and 2010 and one of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The charges relate to the filing of fraudulent income tax and GST returns on behalf of five clients through his tax agency, Guinness Gallagher.

The court was told the returns were fraudulent because they included claims for fictitious expenses which had the effect of reducing the tax liability of Stevens' clients.

The clients paid an invoice for the false expenses, received the bulk of the payment back and Stevens retained the difference, about $60,000.

The fictitious expenses claimed by Stevens were about $2.1 million, with a loss to the IRD estimated to be just over $821,000.

He was sentenced to 10 months' home detention and 150 hours of community work and ordered to repay $121,851 to his victims by May 7, 2013.

While “holed up” in his six-bedroom, $4.8m architecturally designed home in Kaiwharawhara, Stevens still made the headlines.

In February, a 50th “tarts and convicts” party caused uproar amongst those he owes reparations to.

A leaked invite to the celebrations allegedly looked like a front page from the defunct News of the World tabloid.

It apparently quoted a fictional partygoer saying: “I sort of feel sorry for those left off the list, but you know while my beauty is a burden it is also my entree to these sort of events and I know Shaan likes to surround himself with classy broads like me.”

Stevens told the media he could “understand why people would be angry” about the invitation. In addition to cancelling the party, he said he would “continue to meet all his obligations to his victims”.

Stevens has also been called as one of 48 witnesses to testify during the trial of Wellington accountants David Ingram Rowley and Barrie James Skinner, who are facing more than 100 charges of fraudulently using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage, attempting to pervert the course of justice and tax evasion.

The pair pleaded not guilty to the charges.

They are accused of using fictitious transactions to create tax deductions and credits for 27 clients, including lawyers and company directors.

The Crown puts the value of the invoices related to the transactions at more than $9.5m, with the IRD underpaid by $3.1m.

Both are accused of personally benefiting to the tune of $2.3m.

According to court documents, the pair declared much less than their real income, with Rowley accused of evading $101,514 in tax between 2006 and 2010, while Skinner evaded $410,997.

Stevens is believed to have referred clients to Skinner and Rowley's company, allegedly knowing they would take part in the fraud.

However, Rowley and Skinner are expected to argue many of the charges related to transactions of clients of Stevens, which they “had no direct knowledge of”.

In addition to being struck off, Stevens was ordered to pay $8366 costs.

The hearings continue.