The first conviction has now been secured for the fraudulent use of the JobKeeper programme. Raed Saleh fraudulently claimed a wage subsidy from the JobKeeper scheme, despite not being eligible. He is required to pay $6,282 in total, consisting of a $3,000 fine, another $3,000 in reparations as well as $282 in other costs according to the official statement from the ATO.
Pretending to be a sole trader, Saleh applied for the JobKeeper benefit online. He stated that his business experienced a 30% decrease in turnover during May and June 2020. After submitting his claims, he received $3,000 from the ATO as compensation for his reduced income in May. However, a similar payment for June was halted pending further investigation.
This investigation found that his claim of being a sole trader was a lie. Mr Saleh had also already been nominated for the allowance through his full-time employer. When Mr Saleh’s JobKeeper application was discovered to be fraudulent, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to the associated charges, making him the first person in Australia convicted for attempting to defraud the JobKeeper scheme.
Will Day, Deputy Commissioner of the ATO, said that actions such as Mr Saleh’s amounted to “stealing from the pockets of taxpayers at a time when the community needs it most.” The organisation will continue to monitor every transaction, and penalise those who deliberately exploit the subsidy measure.
To date, the JobKeeper scheme has paid as much as $84 billion in total to over 1 million businesses in Australia. As this stimulus package is scheduled to come to an end on 28 March, several analysts have expressed concern over thousands of potential job losses as the programme expires. Such losses, they say, could adversely affect the economy in the months and years ahead.