YaY! OZschwitz tax investigator accused of unauthorized snooping

A SENIOR Tax Office investigator is facing possible criminal charges for snooping on the tax file of Melbourne gangland figure Roberta Williams.

The action is part of the Australian Tax Office's continuing purge of alleged rogue investigators.

But its internal investigations - soon to include a fresh probe by corruption buster Tony Fitzgerald, QC, - have been labelled unaccountable and a witch-hunt by the tax investigators' union.

The Tax Office's internal affairs department has also been accused by a whistleblower of inappropriately accessing the bank records of another Tax Office employee.

The senior tax investigator under scrutiny for the illegal tax file check was called to a meeting at ATO headquarters in Melbourne last month about his alleged misconduct.

He was accused of illegally searching and disclosing the tax records of Roberta Williams, a convicted drug dealer and former wife of underworld boss and murderer Carl Williams.

The investigator is facing disciplinary charges as well as potential criminal charges for the alleged illegal search. It is understood the investigator has claimed he searched and disclosed Ms Williams' information after advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions.

The investigator is one of a group of officers from the Tax Office's serious non-compliance unit - which investigates high-level tax offences - which has been under investigation for more than 18 months.

It is believed up to eight officers from the Melbourne-based unit have been interviewed by Tax Office internal investigators. Several have since taken redundancies. The probe began in early 2007 after complaints were made about the relationship between now-former Tax Office senior investigator Peter Spence and underworld identity Mick Gatto.

Last year The Age reported that Melbourne tax investigators were also under investigation over the unauthorised accessing of the tax records of murdered male prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott.

LNK

YaY! OZschwitz tax investigator accused of unauthorized snooping

YaY! OZschwitz tax investigator accused of unauthorized snooping

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