Misleading ATO statement could have put trio in jail for a decade
The document was discovered by businessman Jae Jang through Freedom of Information laws and will now form part of an independent investigation by the Tax Ombudsman into a decade-long case first exposed by A Current Affair and published by this masthead.
ATO officer Anthony Rains was the lead investigator in the criminal prosecution of Jang and two of his employees, Gold Coast-based Debbie and Bill Ingleton.
The trio were charged in late 2017 with conspiracy to defraud the Australian Taxation Office, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail.
Jang was arrested just days before Christmas that year, and may have spent three weeks in jail had extradition to Queensland been successful.
After 2½ years with strict bail conditions, the charges were dropped with 'no evidence to offer'.
It can now be revealed that a witness statement, tendered by another ATO officer, appears to have had a crucial line added to it by Rains.
'Anthony Rains is the criminal investigator taking witness statements, he should be independent,' Jang said.
'However, in this case, it's clearly shown that he has actually written that for the witness, which, in my view, is totally wrong.'
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