‘Pursuit of financial gain': Aussie grape company hit with $1m fraud fine
One of Australia's largest grape exporters has been fined more than $1 million after running a 'sophisticated fraud' scheme which risked introducing a new pest to New Zealand.
The Grape House, which is Australia's largest exporter of table grapes, was sentenced in the NSW District Court last week after it was found to have breached the biosecurity arrangements between Australia and New Zealand.
The court heard how the Department of Agriculture found The Grape House (TGH) had 'deliberately misled government officials' while importing 145 tonnes of grapes to New Zealand across the 2017 and 2018 export seasons.
The company declared the grapes were from South Australia and were grown in a 'fruit fly pest-free area'.
However, the department found the grapes were grown in various 'non-fruit fly pest-free areas' with the company doing so to avoid the required 16-day cold storage disinfection requirement.
There are no fruit flies in New Zealand, unlike Australia.
They are considered one of the world's most destructive horticultural pests and pose harm to most commercial crops.
District Court Judge Robert Newlinds SC found the company wanted to speed up its 'cash flow'.
'The offending involved a deliberate and sustained manipulation of the system of export, in pursuit of financial gain,' Judge Newlinds said in his sentencing.
'The offending was not spontaneous, rather, it was premeditated, occurred over a long period of time, and involved a significant degree of sophistication and planning.'
The court heard how at the time of the offending Charlie Costa was the sole director of TGH and Colin Egan was the Warehouse and Logistics Manager.
Mr Costa remains director of the company, however, Mr Egan has moved on from the role due to poor health.
The court heard how Mr Egan had signed 'deliberately false' transfer certificates to the department about the grape's origins.
Judge Newlinds said there was 'no suggestion' Mr Costa didn't know about Mr Egan's actions and said the director had given 'no evidence that he is remorseful'.
'TGH is a significant participant in the Australian table grape export industry,' Judge Newlinds said.
'Both TGH as a corporation, its sole Director Mr Costa, and Mr Egan had considerable experience in the industry during the offending period and there is no suggestion that what they did was some sort of mistake or momentary slip.'
The NSW-based company has been in operation since 1989.
Judge Newlinds fined The Grape House a total $1,050,000 and said the offending had put Australia's biosecurity reputation at risk.
He said the fact that fruit flies did not make their way into New Zealand as a result of the offending was 'good fortune'.
'The offending risked New Zealand's biosecurity as well as Australia's reputation, which could have, but luckily did not, cause significant financial harm to both the New Zealand and Australian economies and also individual farmers within both countries,' Judge Newlinds said.
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