An asbestos removal and labour hire company director has been jailed in a case which the judge called the worst of its kind to come before the Christchurch District Court in the last 20 years.
Melanie Jill Tatana, who also goes by Melanie Jill Smith, was sentenced on October 30 to three years behind bars.
Tatana ran the company, Asia Pacific Group Ltd, which employed around 60 people, the IRD said. In the period between April 2019 and September 2022, APG was required to deduct PAYE from workers’ wages and pay it to Inland Revenue.
The IRD said on 63 occasions between August 2019 and September 2022, the company failed to pay the full amounts of $1,602,864.17.
“As a result, Tatana was charged with 63 counts of aiding and abetting APG to knowingly take PAYE from workers’ wages and not pay it on to Inland Revenue.
“An analysis of APG’s bank accounts showed that more than $800,000 had been diverted for Tatana’s personal use.”
Further significant funds had been diverted to her personal bank account and her daughter’s bank account, which Tatana was also using at the time, the IRD said.
APG also received over $2.2 million in Covid-19 wage subsidies between April and May 2022, along with $107,500 in governmental resurgence support payments.
“Tatana was the sole director of APG at the time of the offending, was the signatory on the bank accounts and dealt with Inland Revenue in relation to PAYE debt.
“Tatana was given several warnings, but the non-payment continued and in May 2021 she was told APG was under investigation for failure to pay PAYE.”
District Court Judge Michael Crosbie agreed with Inland Revenue that there was a lack of remorse shown by Tatana. He pointed to the need for his sentence to denounce and deter behaviour of this kind.
