A restaurateur has been jailed and his wife given home detention for an “inherently premeditated” case of tax evasion. The pair ripped off the tax system by almost $850,000, and were first noticed by the IRD when it noticed large payments into their accounts despite their claims that the businesses were losing money.
The offending took place between 2009 and 2016, while Rakesh Kumar and wife Nalini were the owners of Indian Palace Restaurant in Napier. They knowingly filed false tax, GST and PAYE returns. IRD lawyer Amanda Bryant said this behaviour indicated that it was “an integral part of their business plan” and was prompted “by greed more than need”.
Rakesh was sentenced to two and a half years in prison while his wife was only sentenced to home detention, as the court found that she was “naïve” in her dealings with the tax system.
