Almost twenty alleged fraudsters will front court, following arrests made by Cairns police detectives on the Tablelands.
Eighteen people have been recently charged for defrauding the Australia Taxation Office of in excess of $2 million, as part Operation Uniform Galician which began in 2022 – targeting people in the Far North who give false information in order to receive fraudulent payments from the ATO.
Seventy Cairns residents have been prosecuted since the launch of Operation Uniform Galician, defrauding the ATO for a total of 8.5 million dollars.
The most recent offenders have been scheduled to appear before the Atherton and Mareeba courts including a 40-year-old Mareeba woman, a 49-year-old Tolga woman , a 47-year-old Mareeba man , a 47-year-old Wongabel woman, a 34-year-old Atherton woman, a 41-year-old Atherton man, a 27-year-old Tarzali man, a 28-year-old Atherton woman, a 49-year-old Kairi woman, a 27-year-old Atherton woman, a 47-year-old Atherton woman, a 37-year-old Tolga woman, a 54-year-old Atherton woman, a 39-year-old Atherton woman, a 33-year-old Herberton man, a 48-year-old Normanton man, a 50-year-old Elimbah man and a 54-year-old Mackay woman.
Officer in charge of the Far Northern Major and Organised Crime Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Brad Grace said police will continue targeting this type of offending.
“The Queensland Police Service (QPS) will continue to work closely with our government partners to identify and prosecute criminals who profit from defrauding the government,”
“The cost of offending is large and has a real impact on the economy and community, the results would not have been possible without the assistance provided by the Australian Taxation Office.”
