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Forty people could lose their jobs as a Canberra recycling company grapples with the fallout from a multimillion-dollar rubbish dumping scam, its directors say. The revelation was made in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday during a sentence hearing for the two men responsible for the illicit scheme. Edward Watt, 56, and Leon Roussakis, 41, have pleaded guilty to white collar crimes over the disposal of $3,264,399 worth of rubble on Canberra Concrete Recyclers’ Pialligo site in 2014 and 2015. Watt, the former general manager, has admitted to giving company directors false information after hiding the fact he had allowed Roussakis’ Sydney-based firm, Tip It, to dump that rubbish – 855 truckloads – for free. Roussakis pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the provision of the false information. While Roussakis’ company was able to avoid paying millions of dollars in fees, there were also benefits for Watt. As part of the arrangement, Tip It did pay Canberra Concrete Recyclers almost $2.5 million for the legitimate dumping of 656 truckloads of rubbish, boosting the latter’s revenues and solving cash flow issues. The invoiced transactions allowed Watt to meet his directors’ revenue targets and “ring the bell”: a phrase used when Canberra Concrete Recyclers achieved monthly revenue totals of $1 million. While the recycling company’s revenues increased throughout the relevant period, its profits were unchanged. And in a victim impact statement written on behalf of all Canberra Concrete Recyclers directors, Tom Jackson told the court that the rubble dumped without their knowledge had created a significant ongoing headache. He said a “legacy stockpile” of this material remained on the Pialligo site and the Environment Protection Authority wanted it removed, but the company could not afford to get rid of it without huge costs. If forced to process that waste, Mr Jackson said, the company would likely go into liquidation and 40 local jobs would be lost. Crown prosecutor Trent Hickey applied on Tuesday for a reparation order that would require Watt to pay Canberra Concrete Recyclers about $900,000 to help deal with the fallout. He also told the court that both Watt and Roussakis deserved jail sentences for their “dishonest and deceitful” offending. “This wasn’t one truck let through,” Mr Hickey said. “This occurred over 11 months, on 855 occasions.” Mr Hickey said it was telling that when concerns were raised about Tip It trucks entering the Pialligo site in the dead of night, the offenders had “changed their method” to continue the scheme. “This is very deliberate, deceptive behaviour, all to keep [the arrangement] away from the eyes of the directors,” he said. But Watt’s barrister, Geoffrey Denman, argued against his client being locked up over a “pretty unique” crime. He said that for someone to spend time behind bars for this sort of corporate offending you would expect them to have acted for personal profit or manipulated the stock market, but neither of those features were present here. Watt’s legal team also opposed the proposed reparation order, saying it would bankrupt the man. Like Mr Denman, Roussakis’ barrister Duncan Berents said his client should not be incarcerated. His reasons included that Watt was the principal offender and that Roussakis had merely been a bad “corporate citizen” in failing to stop his co-offender from providing false information. “There was no positive act of deception perpetrated by Mr Roussakis on [Canberra Concrete Recyclers] or the directors,” Mr Berents said. Justice David Mossop will sentence the offenders and rule on potential reparations at a later date.
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Forty people could lose their jobs as a Canberra recycling company grapples with the fallout from a multimillion-dollar rubbish dumping scam, its directors say.
The revelation was made in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday during a sentence hearing for the two men responsible for the illicit scheme.
Watt, the former general manager, has admitted to giving company directors false information after hiding the fact he had allowed Roussakis’ Sydney-based firm, Tip It, to dump that rubbish – 855 truckloads – for free.
Roussakis pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the provision of the false information.
Leon Roussakis outside the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday. Picture: Blake Foden
While Roussakis’ company was able to avoid paying millions of dollars in fees, there were also benefits for Watt.
As part of the arrangement, Tip It did pay Canberra Concrete Recyclers almost $2.5 million for the legitimate dumping of 656 truckloads of rubbish, boosting the latter’s revenues and solving cash flow issues.
The invoiced transactions allowed Watt to meet his directors’ revenue targets and “ring the bell”: a phrase used when Canberra Concrete Recyclers achieved monthly revenue totals of $1 million.
While the recycling company’s revenues increased throughout the relevant period, its profits were unchanged.
And in a victim impact statement written on behalf of all Canberra Concrete Recyclers directors, Tom Jackson told the court that the rubble dumped without their knowledge had created a significant ongoing headache.
He said a “legacy stockpile” of this material remained on the Pialligo site and the Environment Protection Authority wanted it removed, but the company could not afford to get rid of it without huge costs.
If forced to process that waste, Mr Jackson said, the company would likely go into liquidation and 40 local jobs would be lost.
Crown prosecutor Trent Hickey applied on Tuesday for a reparation order that would require Watt to pay Canberra Concrete Recyclers about $900,000 to help deal with the fallout.
He also told the court that both Watt and Roussakis deserved jail sentences for their “dishonest and deceitful” offending.
“This wasn’t one truck let through,” Mr Hickey said.
“This occurred over 11 months, on 855 occasions.”
Mr Hickey said it was telling that when concerns were raised about Tip It trucks entering the Pialligo site in the dead of night, the offenders had “changed their method” to continue the scheme.
“This is very deliberate, deceptive behaviour, all to keep [the arrangement] away from the eyes of the directors,” he said.
But Watt’s barrister, Geoffrey Denman, argued against his client being locked up over a “pretty unique” crime.
He said that for someone to spend time behind bars for this sort of corporate offending you would expect them to have acted for personal profit or manipulated the stock market, but neither of those features were present here.
Watt’s legal team also opposed the proposed reparation order, saying it would bankrupt the man.
Like Mr Denman, Roussakis’ barrister Duncan Berents said his client should not be incarcerated.
His reasons included that Watt was the principal offender and that Roussakis had merely been a bad “corporate citizen” in failing to stop his co-offender from providing false information.
“There was no positive act of deception perpetrated by Mr Roussakis on [Canberra Concrete Recyclers] or the directors,” Mr Berents said.
Justice David Mossop will sentence the offenders and rule on potential reparations at a later date.
