FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2012 file photo, attorney Oleg Nikolishen speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Kiev, Ukraine. In January 2011, after heading to a police station to defend a client accused of car theft, Nikolishen was himself arrested and charged with his client's alleged crime. He spent most of the next two years in jail awaiting trial. In December 2012, he was released on bail for treatment of cancer he had developed in custody. Nikolishen claims his arrest was in retaliation for successfully defending clients in a country where prosecutors are used to getting their way. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov, File)
Accountant helped clients avoid millions in tax
Published: 07:56:16 AM, Tue 05 March 2013 UTC
A lawyer for an accountant based in the Channel Islands has told a Brisbane court his client should not be made a scapegoat for people who seek to avoid paying tax.
Philip Eric de Figueiredo, 60, was extradited to Australia in 2010 to face three counts of conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth.
He has pleaded guilty to the charges.
Prosecutor Alan MacSporran told the court de Figueiredo helped set up a complex tax avoidance scheme operated by Swiss accountancy firm Strachans.
He was targeted by the Australian Tax Office's Operation Wickenby and accused of helping his clients, including music entrepreneur Glenn Wheatley, to avoid paying more than $4 million in tax.
But Philip Dunn QC for de Figueiredo says his client, who is a resident of the Channel Islands off France, should not be a scapegoat for overseas tax evasion scams.
Mr Dunn says he accepts that he will have to spend some time in jail.
Justice Debra Mullins will hand down a sentence tomorrow.
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