Asheer Singh, 37, appeared in the Dunedin District Court this afternoon after earlier admitting 15 charges laid by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) under the Tax Administration Act.
Judge David Robinson declined an application for a discharge without conviction and sentenced him to five months’ home detention and 200 hours’ community work.
The crux of the matter, he said, was the unknown impact a conviction would have on Singh’s ability to hold or maintain a medical practising certificate.
The court heard Singh would now be referred to the Medical Council of New Zealand and would be stood down from his role at Te Kaika.
“It’s sustained offending and I’m left with the inescapable inference that, but for the inquiry by IRD when it occurred, this is offending that would have likely continued,” he said.
The court heard it was not Singh’s first scrape with tax authorities.
He had previously been subject to shortfall penalties because of “gross-carelessness”.
“You were clearly on notice about your tax obligations and the consequences of not complying with those obligations,” Judge Robinson said.
Singh was forthright about why he did it.
“He acknowledged it was self-entitlement and greed. He doesn’t shy away from that,” Mr Weaver said.
“He does not and has not offered excuses for this.”
Singh’s company Dr A. Singh Ltd (DASL), incorporated in 2011, was randomly selected for a compliance review in February 2021.
It found the doctor had registered a profit of only $23,000 in the 2020 tax year despite introducing “large sums of funds” to his company and making property purchases of $1.4m.
An IRD officer called the doctor to discuss the case and three weeks later, Singh provided a statement detailing his income omissions between 2019 and 2021.
“[He] made a full and frank admission and acknowledged the criminality of his behaviour,” counsel David Weaver said.
Just weeks after the department’s probe began, Singh paid $118,948 to cover his admitted tax liabilities.
“He simply asked for mercy from the commissioner [of the IRD],” Mr Weaver said.
But the IRD forged on with its investigation and sought information from the Highlanders, NZR, Otakou Health Ltd and Medical Assurance Society New Zealand, as well as various banks.
It revealed Singh was receiving income from the Super Rugby franchise and Otago Rugby for his role as team doctor, and from Te Kaika, a large amount of which had not been declared.
A review of one of three bank accounts showed the defendant had received nine payments from the NZR totalling $119,408 which were not returned as sales in the GST or income filings for his company.
There were examples of mis-coding in accounting software too, the court heard.
"The defendant, by virtue of large amounts of funds introduced (some of which was actually sales), has been able to take large amounts of drawings that do not attract income tax," a summary concluded.
Singh declined to attend a voluntary interview.
The shortfall for GST and income tax was calculated to be $94,523, while the discrepancies in Working for Families tax credits and a student loan from the fraudulent returns came to $42,921 — a total of $137,444.
Singh had repaid the full amount but may yet be liable for shortfall penalties.
Mr Weaver told the court Singh had apologised to his employers and the Highlanders playing group “for the hurt and embarrassment he’s caused to them”.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) had launched an investigation as a result of the offences, Mr Weaver said.
