Reginald George Roberts, 67, is on trial in the District Court of South Australia charged with 75 counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage from the Commonwealth between 2002 and 2006.
Prosecutor Jeff Powell said Roberts created three fake transport companies – RR Logistics, Inter Link Freight Services and Phillip Williams Pty Ltd – and used false identities to lodge 75 false claims from the ATO’s Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grant Scheme and the Energy Grants Credits Scheme.
Each of the schemes enabled legitimate heavy road transport companies to claim back 18.51 centre per litre of fuel used each month, provided the companies retain records of invoices and fuel usage for five years, reports The Advertiser.
Powell told the jury that despite searches of Roberts’ Waterloo Corner property and the offices of his accountants, investigators were unable to find any documents proving three of the businesses linked to Roberts were legitimate.
He also told the jury Roberts used two fake identities to open bank accounts for the businesses, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of rebate money paid into those accounts was then transferred into Roberts’ personal and business accounts.
The trial, before Judge Simon Stretton and jury of six women and eight men, is expected to continue for a number of weeks.