Company executive sentenced to prison after failing to remit $1.6 million in tax to IRD

During this period, APG failed to pay the full amount on 63 occasions, which totaled more than $1.6 million.

“As a result, Tatana was charged with 63 counts of aiding and abetting APG to knowingly deduct PAYE from employees’ wages and fail to pay it to the company Tax Office– said IRD.

An analysis of APG’s bank accounts showed that over $800,000 had been diverted for Tatana’s own use.

According to the IRD, further significant funds were diverted to Tatana’s personal bank account and her daughter’s bank account, which Tatana was also using at the time.

“The money was used for large cash withdrawals, gambling, takeaways and alcohol… (but) we cannot break it down into individual amounts.”

Between April and May 2022, APG also received over $2.2 million in Covid-19 wage subsidies and $107,500 in government economic recovery grants.

The IRD alleges that Tatana was the sole director of APG at the time of the PAYE offences, was a signatory to the bank accounts and dealt with the Inland Revenue in relation to the PAYE debt.

“(She) received several warnings but non-payment continued and in May 2021 she was told that an investigation had been launched into APG for failure to pay PAYE.”

Judge Crosbie agreed with the IRD that Tatana had shown a lack of remorse and stated: opinion needed to “condemn and deter” such crimes.

Government departments could also be seen as easy targets, but if everyone felt offended as Tatana did, “we would descend into chaos,” the judge said.

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