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Former ATO officer sentenced for accepting bribes.

The ATO has advised that a former ATO employee has been sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment for corrupt conduct, including accepting bribes from a taxpayer they were auditing, in exchange for reducing millions of dollars in personal and business tax debts over a span of 6 years, which ceased only after the former employee's arrest. Following a guilty plea in July 2023, the Parramatta District Court, on 12 March 2024, convicted the offender of several contraventions of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, including accepting a bribe as a Commonwealth official, abuse of public office, and unauthorised access and disclosure of restricted data. The Court sentenced the offender to 5 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 2 years and 6 months.