UPDATED: The former boss of Heart of the City has been sentenced to five years and seven months in jail.
Hamish McNicol talks about Alex Swney on NBR Radio and on demand via MyNBR Radio.
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Alex Swney has been jailed for more than $4 million in tax evasion and fraud he committed because he felt he was underpaid for the work he did improving Auckland.
The former boss of Auckland business organisation Heart of the City was today sentenced to five years and seven months in jail in the Auckland District Court, after pleading guilty to charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office and Inland Revenue.
Judge Grant Fraser says Swney took advantage of his position at Heart of the City to steal about $4.3 million over more than a decade in what was a “gross breach of trust.”
The offending involved high levels of pre-meditation and his actions were planned and deliberate, Judge Fraser says when sentencing Swney.
A probation report noted some concern about “elements of ambiguity” in Swney’s reasoning for the offending.
Judge Fraser says there appeared to be “no tangible” reasoning apart from a justification Swney felt he was being underpaid for his work with Heart of the City.
The court heard Swney had sold a beach house and made other steps to repay about $258,000, with another $73,000 ready to be paid as well, representing about 13% of the balance.
But all of Swney’s offending had been made for personal gain, attaining valuable interests and exclusive properties “held in a web of trusts,” Judge Fraser says.
Most of the sum gained would be unrecoverable, he says, while noting there would be some ability to unravel the “balance tied up in trusts.”
Any mitigating factors, however, needed to be balanced against the length and nature of the offending, Judge Fraser says.
“The offending is near to the most serious.”
Judge Fraser sentenced Swney to five years and seven months, with no minimum non-parole period, as both the SFO and IRD had sought.
Swney had been due to be sentenced in April but avoided prison after the sentencing judge fell ill.
The matter was instead adjourned to a sentencing hearing in the Auckland District Court today.
A week before his first sentencing date, Swney pleaded guilty to a charge brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of dishonestly using documents and was convicted.
He had already admitted in January to charges laid by the IRD covering $1.8 million in unpaid taxes.
The IRD also alleges Swney owes $1.4 million in penalties and interest.
Outside the court, IRD group tax counsel Graham Tubb said it would continue to work to recover the $4.6 million Swney stole, including outstanding tax, interest and penalties.
“Swney deliberately tried to cheat the system and not pay his fair share of tax.
“New Zealanders can be confident that we will catch people like Swney.”
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