School Funding Fraud Category : General Fraud Year : 2010-2011 The defendant was a director of a company, Muslim Link Australia Ltd, that ran a non-government school, Muslim Ladies College of Australia. The defendant devised and instigated a scheme whereby the school would receive funding to which it was not entitled. The defendant committed the fraud by overstating the number of students attending the school, by at least 86, on census applications submitted to the Western Australian and Commonwealth Governments. The defendant also created 2 sets of enrolment and attendance records, one of which was genuine and the other falsified. He used the falsified records to convince authorities conducting post census audits of the accuracy of the information reported in the census applications. Evidence indicated that the defendant had told school staff that it was necessary to falsify the census applications in order to keep the school operational. As a result of the defendant’s offending Muslim Link Australia Ltd received $163,785.82 from the Western Australian Government and $961,422 from the Commonwealth Government to which it was not entitled. The defendant was charged with fraud contrary to section 409(1)(c) of the Criminal Code (WA) and obtaining a financial advantage by deception contrary to section 134.2(1) of the Criminal Code. The defendant pleaded not guilty and was tried in the District Court of Western Australia. During the trial, the defence objected to one of the prosecution witnesses wearing a full burqa including a naqid (face covering) whilst giving evidence. In ruling upon the defence objection, Deane DCJ said: I accept that the demeanour of a particular witness, which includes the viewing of that person’s face, is not the only means by which the reliability and credibility of their testimony may be assessed. That could never be the case. The jury may or may not consider the presentation and demeanour of a witness to be of assistance, but the issue is whether, in all of the circumstances, the jury should have the opportunity to be so assisted. It is obviously undesirable for a witness to come before a court to give evidence under such pressure that they are unable to do so in a meaningful or proper way. That is why, as previously noted, courts endeavour in a range of ways to accommodate such witnesses as far as reasonably possible in order that they may give their evidence without excessive or unbearable pressure or distress. In the end, however, the trial process must be fair to all concerned and the procedures and processes which have been in place in our legal and judicial system, including the criminal trial process and which to date have proved to be of assistance, should be observed and followed. This, regrettably, at times may result in a degree of distress to individuals, as has occurred in the past and will, in all likelihood, occur in the future. That is the nature of the process. I have endeavoured to carefully consider, in the time available, the arguments before the court relevant to this matter and this difficult issue. In the end, and I stress in the circumstances of this particular case, I do not consider it to be appropriate to permit the witness concerned to give evidence at trial whilst wearing her niqab. I will hear counsel in due course as to how the circumstances of the witness, in view of this ruling, are to be best accommodated in the event that she proceeds to give evidence at the forthcoming trial. Due to the cultural sensitivities surrounding the issue, the Court was partially closed while the witness gave testimony via CCTV and all males not associated with the trial process itself were excluded from the proceedings. The exclusion extended to male journalists. The Court suppressed the witness’ surname and the publication of her image. A transcript of the witness’ evidence was made available to the media. The defendant was found guilty and sentenced to a total effective sentence of 4½ years imprisonment to be released after serving 2 years and 9 months on condition that he be of good behaviour for 12 months.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 15:58:28 +0000
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