Former Channel Seven newsreader Simone Semmens denounces the Australian Tax Office (ATO) as ‘disgraceful’ after courts overturned her fraud convictions, years following her 14-month prison sentence.
Case Background
A jury convicted Ms Semmens in 2019 on 10 counts of deceitfully causing a loss to the Commonwealth. The ex-Ms Victoria winner, who presented weekend news in Melbourne before entering property development, faced allegations of intentionally evading $1.74 million in GST on multimillion-dollar property sales and subdivisions from June 2001 to December 2011.
An ATO audit prompted the charges, claiming deliberate non-payment after property transactions.
Appeal Victory
The Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal last week quashed all convictions, identifying three trial irregularities that misled the jury and caused a miscarriage of justice.
Justices David Beach, Maree Kennedy, and Terry Forrest ruled the prosecutor wrongly implied Ms Semmens sold properties GST-inclusive and pocketed the $1.74 million, suggesting theft-level dishonesty beyond the actual unquantified loss claim.
The first and second errors meant that the jury might reason that the applicant had engaged in a very different level of dishonesty – tantamount to theft – from that which was actually alleged.
In essence, then, given the way the prosecutor opened and closed his case, the jury can be taken to have understood that the case was put on the basis that the applicant received $1.8 million belonging to the ATO which she dishonestly misappropriated.
The panel deemed such framing erroneous and entered acquittals on all counts, rejecting a retrial.
The applicant has already served her entire sentence, endured significant stress, and re-entered the community. The offences also concern events which took place many years ago, in circumstances where memories of witnesses have already been adversely affected. In our view, the interests of justice do not require another lengthy and complex trial.
Semmens Responds
Ms Semmens, who self-represented without legal training, calls the ATO battle a ‘harrowing ordeal’ driven by her need to travel abroad for her son. She feels vindicated after harsh treatment.
This was not something I had any training in, but I worked very, very hard, she stated.
Considering compensation for her imprisonment, Ms Semmens blasts the ATO’s investigation as wasteful of taxpayer funds.
I certainly have some serious complaints about the way in which the investigation was handled by the tax office. It’s millions of dollars, she said.
