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\nPhoto: RNZ\n<\/p>\n
A Christchurch pair have been jailed for tax fraud after trying to obtain more than $400,000 through income tax refunds, student loan payments and Working for Families payments.<\/p>\n
Inland Revenue said Richard Jody Rapana and Marlanna Shirley Diana Harris received just over $115,000 they were not entitled to between 2019 and 2022.<\/p>\n
They were each charged with three representative charges of dishonestly and without claim of right using a document with intent to obtain a pecuniary advantage.<\/p>\n
Harris, who was already serving a near four-year prison term on dishonesty charges, was sentenced to an additional 14 months in June for the tax fraud.<\/p>\n
“The sentencing Judge referred to the aggravating factors in the case – the premeditation, offending while on sentence for other charges, the personal benefit she obtained, and what His Honour called the “huge loss” of revenue affecting all taxpayers,” Inland Revenue said.<\/p>\n
Rapana was sentenced on 12 September, and had nine months added to the four-year sentence he was already serving for a burglary, Covid wage subsidy fraud, and Facebook Marketplace fraud committed over a similar period.<\/p>\n
Inland Revenue began investigating in 2019 before placing the investigation on hold while supporting the government’s response to Covid-19.<\/p>\n