This appeared last week:
No system is infallible: ATO boss on tax fraud
- The Australian
- 11:53AM May 30, 2017
Ben Butler
A dozen ATO employees have been sacked for accessing the private information of friends, celebrities or other taxpayers so far this financial year.
The ATO’s internal compliance teams have investigated 30 staff members for privacy breaches, compared to 23 in the previous financial year, a senate committee heard this morning.
Taxation Commissioner Chris Jordan told the Estimates Committee that “stupid people try to look at their friends”.
“To lose your job for having a look at someone’s records that you weren’t supposed to is pretty severe,” he said.
“They know they shouldn’t do it, they get picked up, our fraud and detection people are good.”
There are more than 20,500 ATO employees, according to the organisation’s most recent annual report.
The committee was told about the investigations against the backdrop of an alleged $165 million payroll tax fraud case that has snared the children of ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston.
In earlier evidence Mr Jordan says his deputy committed “a huge error of judgment” by trying to find out information for his son, the alleged head of the $165 million Plutus Payroll scam Adam Cranston.
Mr Cranston has been suspended from the ATO and is expected to be charged with misusing his office over his role in the Plutus affair.
Appearing before the Senate Estimates committee this morning, Mr Jordan said AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin told him about the relationship between Operation Elbrus target Adam Cranston and Michael Cranston on January 11.
Lots more here:
This report really puts a lie to any belief that you can trust people not to go poking around where they should not.
The saving grace with the myHR – as opposed to the tax office – is that the information is much harder to search and look around in, due to the pile of .pdfs approach to information storage.
That said people will be people as health systems all over the world have observed.
David.
1 comment:
Just remember - legislation doesn't prevent bad things (the courts are full of people who have done bad things) it only punishes those who get caught.
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