Rishi Khandewal, a former public servant has been found guilty of 302 charges which include stealing from the tax office. He has avoided going to jail but will serve a four-year sentence under an intensive corrections order in the community.
33-year-old Rishi had stolen more than $500,000 from the tax office by filing fraudulent tax returns between 2008 and 2010. He filed tax returns under the names of students most of whom had already left Australia.
Rishi Khandelwal, 33, managed to steal more than $500,000 from the tax office.
The long-running saga began in 2008 when Khandelwal began filing tax returns under real names, but with bogus amounts for jobs most of the students had never held. Khandelwal was a public servant and worked Food Standards Australia and New Zealand when he executed this “sophisticated” scam.
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He was sentenced by the ACT Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday after a six-year-long legal process.
The evidence against him included a large number of bundles of $50 notes, luxury items, multiple ATM cards and a meticulous diary.
Magistrate Peter Dingwall found Khandelwal had taken a sophisticated approach to avoid detection and said that greed was his sole motive behind the crime.
But Magistrate Dingwall noted that Khandelwal now had a job and was focused on his family.
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The court heard Khandelwal had no prior convictions and now worked at a retail chain to support his family.
The court also heard that had made positive changes to his life in the past six years and now posed a low risk of reoffending.
The intensive corrections order will allow Khandelwal to fully serve his sentence outside prison subject to strict conditions.
He was also ordered to perform 400 hours of community service.
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