Former government advisor duped by fraudster Stevens

Former government advisor Lorraine Skiffington, who is battling cancer, has told the Wellington High Court how her ordeal with fraud-accused accountants Barrie James Skinner and David Ingram Rowley played out like a “great fiction”.

Mr Rowley and Mr Skinner face more than 100 charges of fraudulently using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage, attempting to pervert the course of justice and tax evasion.

The pair are accused of invoicing clients, usually for consultancy or subcontracting work, which never existed.

Visibly ill, Ms Skiffington was brought into court in a wheelchair. Her testimony was heard in closed court. However, NBR ONLINE was allowed to report on proceedings.

Charges against Messrs Skinner and Rowley relate to a complicated scheme which saw transactions processed to create tax deductions and credits for 27 clients, including lawyers and company directors.

Stevens is still to testify against his former business associates and is serving a 10-month home detention sentence in his  Kaiwharawhara mansion.

Ms Skiffington says she met Stevens when he was consulting on the Hui Tamata project, of which he later became executive manager.

When she started her Strategic Directionz consulting agency, Stevens offered to help Ms Skiffington with her accounts in his capacity as an accountant at Guinness Gallagher.

While he “filed one tax return” before handing the work over to employees at Guinness Gallagher, Stevens later recommended Tax Planning Services take over Ms Skiffington’s accounts.

Mr Skinner was responsible for Ms Skiffington’s tax affairs and she allowed him access to her bank accounts, as well as direct access to her personal ASB banking assistant.

In September 2010, Ms Skiffington ended her professional relationship with Tax Planning Services after the IRD started investigating it.

Documents presented to the court showed Ms Skiffington was charged more then $1 million for consultancy and subcontracting work.

“I didn’t understand how the charges had accrued. On some occasions when I questioned that, Barrie said just to leave it and he would sort it out later,” Ms Skiffington told the court.

“I do not have any record of these statements. I don’t know how it got to this size.”

Ms Skiffington wrote cheques to a number of business entities, under instruction by Mr Skinner, as she thought these were to meet tax obligations.

When asked by Justice Stephen Kos why she would do this, she said she paid them as she “assumed they were the companies through which tax obligations were paid”.

“I had a vague understanding that they were loss bearing. I just assumed they were entities Barrie used collectively to pay tax.” 

However, it was the purchase of a $1.76 million property on her behalf that Ms Skiffington says made her feel “quite sick”.

Messrs Rowley and Skinner are accused of showing clients unsigned sale and purchase agreements for car parks or apartments.

According to Crown prosecutor Dale La Hood, former clients only learned the transactions they were involved with were for property deals when the IRD launched its investigation.

Ms Skiffington says it was after she was issued a notice by the IRD that Mr Skinner told her about the almost $2 million property purchase he had made on her behalf.

“My relationship with Barrie and Dave was about tax. My property investment activity was mainly in Hamilton. I was staggered.

"It is still very upsetting to look at this document. That is a huge amount of money. I would never spend that on an investment property.” 

Ms Skiffington says she knew her solicitor had not seen, or signed, the purchase agreement.

She says the IRD investigation had been a shock and she was “overwhelmed” by the magnitude of the situation unfolding.

“This was evolving like some great fiction, and it still is,” she told the court.

The trial continues.