COMPANY FINED £28O FOR MAKING FALSE RETURNS OF INCOME

Wanganui Chronicle, 13 December 1949, Page 5

COMPANY FINED £28O FOR MAKING FALSE RETURNS OF INCOME

WELLINGTON, Last Night (PA).— Fines totalling £2BO were imposed on Rotowax Ltd. by Mr. Thompson, S.M., in a reserved judgment delivered today.

The company had pleaded not guilty, through Mr. W. E. Leicester, to five charges of wilfully making false returns of income. The total discrepencies alleged by the prosecution were £10,159 9s Bd, on which £3458 Ils 8d was stated to be the tax due.

The magistrate found the company guilty of wilfully making false returns to the extent of £3579 Ils 2d. The company was convicted on four charges. A charge alleging wllfa< false returns for the year ended December 31, 1942, was dismissed. The charges on which the company was convicted concerned returns for the years ending October 31, 1943, 1944, 1945 and 1946. The fines were £5O, £3O, £lOO and £lOO, respectively, and costs in each case.

The magistrate said the charge concerning the 1942 return was dismissed because a return for that year had not been signed. The magistrate expressed the view that the company appeared to have a free and easy atmosphere. He agreed with the prosecution that the three original partners in the syndicate had continued to run it as if it were their own private business after it had been turned into a limited company. It was clear that at times the payments received had been split among the directors without the formality of book entries.