Brothers Bill and Jim Karras went to drastic lengths to scam the Victoria’s State Revenue Office, pretending to be a gay couple to get out of paying extra tax on a property investment, a court has heard.
The sham union profited them an extra $7000 on the first homeowners grant and saved them paying extra tax.
Bill Karras, who in November 2010 posed as Dimitris Saravakios, made false statements in his application. He had owned three houses before 2000 and four after that year.
A person is ineligible for the grant if they or their partner, before July 2000, own residential property in Victoria or interstate.
Bill Karras claimed he began the relationship with Jim in 2009, and went to great lengths to prove their ‘love’, emailing a utility bill and photographs of the two hugging each other and one of them wearing blond wigs.
Jim Karras, 34, was recently fined $2000 without conviction for making a false statement, while his brother, 41, pleaded guilty to four charges, including tax evasion.
Bill Karras’s lawyer George Defteros described the circumstances as a “comical and farcical” attempt at fraud that was “doomed from the outset”.
Bill Karras has paid back the $26,000 in stamp duty and is seeking treatment for depression and anxiety.
In sentencing, magistrate Richard Pithouse told Karras his actions showed he continued to be dishonest and had not learned from previous convictions.
He said Karras was “shameful” in involving his brother, who has multiple sclerosis and was a victim, and who had been ostracised by his family as a direct result of his brother’s conduct. He was jailed for nine months and convicted and fined $5000. He was bailed pending an appeal.
Source: The Age