Cleaning company directors sentenced to community detention for GST fraud

Narayan and Sharma fraudulently claimed $189,051 in GST refunds. Financial records showed the company was not eligible for those refunds and instead owed IRD $25,224 in GST. Photo / Janna Dixon

Two directors of an Auckland cleaning company have been sentenced to community detention for claiming almost $190,000 in fraudulent GST refunds.

The Inland Revenue Department said Bimlesh Vishal Sharma and Prashita Narayan were ordered to serve six months’ community detention when they were sentenced at Manukau District Court.

Narayan and Sharma fraudulently claimed $189,051 in GST refunds. Financial records showed the company was not eligible for those refunds and instead owed IRD $25,224 in GST.

They have been ordered to pay reparations of $50 a week for the fraud which was committed “over many years”.

The pair faced a representative charge of using a document with intent to obtain a pecuniary advantage.

“When interviewed, they stated that they were under financial pressure and had been advised by family and friends they could make money out of Inland Revenue by filing incorrect GST returns and that nobody would know,” IRD said in a statement.

“They said they knew what they were doing was wrong and they knew one day they would be in trouble.”

Narayan and Sharma entered a guilty plea to the charge in court on November 16. They have already repaid most of the money.