The Slow Wheels of Justice !

Defrauding the Commonwealth is seen by many as a "victimless "crime.  Many are receiving benefits for which they are not entitled and very well paid people make a living devising the ways and means of avoiding paying the tax that is legally due on the earnings of others.  From time to time a case of outright blatant criminality makes the headlines and it seems to take years for that to wend its way through the courts.

Last year, a twenty-nine year old woman was fond guilty after a lengthy trial of falsely claiming millions of dollars in government benefits.   She ran a childcare centre in a country town and a jury found her guilty of eighty-one offences, which included sixty-six counts of  dishonestly obtaining  financial advantage by deception, fourteen counts of using a false document and one count of dealing with the  proceeds of crime in excess of a million dollars.

This woman protested her innocence and claimed that she had no idea how or why a jury had found her guilty.   They had heard compelling evidence that she had lodged fake claims for special childcare benefits for children who were experiencing or were at risk of abuse or neglect.   She claimed an inflated rate of up to $ 180 an hour for fourteen children who were not at risk and in some cases claimed for children who did not attend the centre.

Her criminality was certainly rewarding.  She gained $ 225,000 a month for a two year period between 2013 and 2015 and the court confiscated her bank account containing $ 2,250,000 and seized a $ 90,000 car when she was arrested by Federal police in March 2015..

It will amaze some people that during the arrest and the period of trial she has enjoyed the freedom of being on bail.   The prosecution claims she is a flight risk and now that bail has again been extended.  She is due to be sentenced on May 26.

What must draw attention in legal circles is the ease with which this fraud persisted for two long years.   Government regulations are by their very nature complex and framed to cover a range of eventualities.   In this case, claims were made within the law but to persons who did not meet the criteria to which that law applied.   We are unsure how - or why - this came to the attention of the department involved and whether it applies in a wider context across Australia.

It also remains to be seen what sort of penalty will apply to this sort of crime.   The prosecution is worried that this bail extension may be used for flight and will no doubt ask that precautions be put in place, but there have been plenty of cases where a wanted person has slipped through customs using a borrowed passport.

Robbing the government is far from a "victimless "crime and yet there seems to be a segment of society that greets it with enthusiasm.   Unless retribution is delivered with speed and a degree of certaincy the temptation to manipulate  government regulations for personal gain can make society unworkable.