Case: ATO fraud leads to commercial trafficking charges.
Our client’s house was raided. He lived with 4 other people. Police were looking for documents relating to false GST returns and found a small amount of drugs in his room and a commercial amount of drugs in the garage.
Charges/ Ch1, 2, 17, 22 (Recklessly deal with proceeds of crime); Ch3 (Traffick commercial quantity of drugs); Ch4 (traffic drug of dependence); Ch5, 6, 7 (Possess drug of dependence); Ch8, 11, 20, 25 (Negligently deal with proceeds of crime); Ch9,, 13, 18, 23 (Obtaining property by deception); Ch10, 14, 15, 16, 19, 24 (Knowingly deal with proceeds of crime); Ch12, 21, 26 (Deal with property suspected to be proceeds of crime)
Result/ Withdrawn: Charge 3 (commercial trafficking), 5, 7 (possess drugs) ; Ch1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 (Proceeds of Crime)
Plea Guilty: Ch4 (trafficking by weight); Ch6 (possess methamphetamine): Community Corrections Order, 12 Months, without conviction
Our lawyer negotiated to resolve the matter principally on trafficking simpliciter on the basis that there was no evidence of actual trafficking; and the Methampetamine found in our client’s room. At our client’s plea it was argued that our client was a first time offender and a conviction would affect his ability to travel and work.