Companies owe millions

A Taranaki businessman has been sentenced to home detention for evading more than $2 million in tax.

Glenn Maraenui Peri appeared before Judge Chris Sygrove at the New Plymouth District Court on Friday for sentencing on 28 tax-related charges. At an earlier appearance in March, he pleaded guilty to the offending which related to tax avoidance for businesses Chain Rigging and Scaffolding Ltd (CRSL), a division of Chain Resources Ltd (CRL).

Sygrove sentenced Peri to 10 months of home detention, 100 hours of community work and ordered him to pay $50,000 in reparations.

Peri was the director of the New Plymouth businesses, both placed in liquidation on December 19 by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and into voluntary administration on December 2. The liquidator’s first report, made public on February 1, stated both companies were placed in liquidation due to significant GST, PAYE, and other tax debts owing to the IRD. IRD was listed in the report as a preferential debt for both companies.

In relation to CRSL, it said IRD had filed a claim for outstanding GST, PAYE, FBT and employer deductions from wages to the amount of $1,620,008, which included a preferential claim of $903,954.

IRD also filed a claim in relation to the same outstanding taxes for CRL amounting to $475,322, which included a preferential claim of $303,952.

CRSL became a listed company on September 27, 2013. CRL was first listed in April 2008.

According to the report, the company’s director advised that both companies’ business suffered as a result of the downturn in the Taranaki oil and gas industry, and significant projects not materialising.

All of the companies’ employment agreements were terminated on liquidation.

However, a number of those workers were rehired by an outof-town company that bought the business.

The new owners have a number of regional branches across the country including in Wellington and Christchurch, but it is their first investment in the Taranaki area.

Company director Chris Warren said they began operating in February and were committed to building a quality business and being a good corporate citizen.