A former FRCA staff and a Taxpayer were sentenced to 6 and 7 years imprisonment respectively for Money Laundering and Tax Fraud charges by the Suva High Court today.

The two colluded to defraud FRCA of more than $113,000 between 2005 to 2009.

“The above sentence should be a deterrent to all those out there who cheat government coffers by filing bogus or forged tax claims and work in groups to plan and defraud FRCA”, FRCA acting chief executive Visvanath Das said.

“This offense took place at a time when FRCA was issuing refunds through cheques. Since the incident, FRCA as an organization has moved forward and we continuously strive to improve our systems and processes”, Mr Das stressed.

All refunds are now issued directly to designated bank accounts of taxpayers which the Authority has cross-checks and verifies with various banks for ownership.

“We also have a much more developed and robust Internal Assurance team who regularly conducts internal system audits and continuously monitors and assesses that similar offence is not repeated. This is to ensure that checks and balances are carried out regularly”.

“FRCA also has a whistleblower policy under which members of the public can lodge their concerns with us, if they have some evidence or reasonable suspicion that Tax and Customs laws are not followed. Monetary reward is also given to successful informants.

“Members of the public can always call 3243222/3243666 or 6626777 to make a complaint on tax evasion or customs fraud.”

Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority

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