Greek Australian George Alex has been found guilty of a conspiracy to defraud the Tax Office of $10 million in what prosecutors described as a complicated “revolving-door” scheme.
The verdict came following a six-month trial and more than a month of deliberations with the jury of nine men and women finding the Sydney-based construction boss guilty on Tuesday morning, as reported by The Age.
The jury returned guilty verdicts for Alex and three co-accused: Lindsay John Kirschberg, Gordon McAndrew and Pasquale Loccisano.
It follows on from the 53-year-old being found guilty two weeks ago of conspiring to deal with over $1 million in proceeds of crime, which also saw Alex’s son Arthur found not guilty of recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime of $1 million or more.
Justice Desmond Fagan reminded the jury on Monday that the tax fraud conspiracy constituted “the great bulk of the case” and was “the main thing to be decided”.
He further added that the Commonwealth had missed out on about $125,000 a week in unpaid PAYG tax, adding up to $1 million every couple of months.
