The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 10

1 1 10 JUE AGE, Wednesday 11 March 1187 How a creative accountant amassed a fortune of $12 million 4 The hMk life and times of Lockyer I -4 TN A Supreme Court jury yesterday acquitted three men of conspiracy charges involving one of Australia's largest bottom- of -the-harbor tax avoidance schemes run by a bankrupt accountant. Donald Brookes Lockyer. At the start of the trial. Lockyer pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth, as did on of his so-called "garbage Ian Robert Beames. Lockyer and Beames were jailed for their roles in the conspiracy in 1986 after 1: -s- vjfT 1 In the eyes of the honest, mainstream business community, Donald Brookes Lockyer was a failure.

On the public, record, Lockyer was Identified as a financial disaster, having, been declared bankrupt three times: in 1952, 1976 and again in 1884. But Lockyer had a lust for success that was fueHed by his wife Soil's passion for the high life. Despite 'legal constraints, the smooth-talking and gregarious tax avoidance promoter managed to amass a fortune conservatively estimated at $12 million. But the beautiful, demanding and dominant Suzi spent the money almost as fast as Lockyer could illegally make It Lockyer, who was jailed in 1988, emerged as one of Australia's most notorious tax fraud Operating from an untidy office in an old block of flats at 65 Queens Road, South Melbourne, Lockyer developed a bottom-of-the-barbor tax avoidance scheme that defrauded the Commonwealth of up to tens of millions of dollars. His personal tax liability was assessed at $5.3 million.

Suzi, who fled to the United States in 1982 and has been linked to organised crime figures in California, owes the Australian public, more than $4 million in back taxes, according to the Tax Department Behind a shield of accomplices and straw directors who had little financial or commercial know wfy ir -Mm fl II schemes and set up shop in two small suites in Queens Road. Lockyer's main business was selling taxation schemes to clients in Australia and New Guinea. He offered a range of services that Included company strips, current year profit strips, trust strips, film schemes, cattle trading, share partnerships and a mining investment scheme. All of this led Mr Costigan, QC, the head of the Royal Commission on the Ship Painters and Dockers Union, to say in a secret report in October 1984 to the Federal and Victorian Governments that the schemes were per- 4 If Donald Brookes Lockyer: three times a bankrupt, he discovered a talent for devising tax avoidance schemes. A portrait of Suzi Lockyer: she fled Australia and has been linked with organised crime figures in California.

tralia. The total value was estimates at $8.3 million. When radio personality John Singleton sold his $840,000 mansion in New South Head Road, Rose Bay, Lockyer was the successful bidder, adding a dream home overlooking Sydney Harbor to his collection of real estate. The Rose Bay home was eventually valued for tax recovery purposes at $1.7 million. Lockyer was attracted to property with panoramic views.

He owned four units at Bondi, two houses on Port Phillip Bay in Port Melbourne, a villa on the Isle of Capri at Surfers Paradise, eight flats at Merredin in Western Australia, a $60,000 unit at Parramatta and a house in Fiji. He also had a yearning to be part of the international jetset To satisfy that whim, Lockyer bought in his wife's name, an apartment on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles and another in Paris. There is some speculation that he, his wife or his companies own other properties overseas. Lockyer's indulgence did not stop at residential property. He controlled vast broad hectares at Woolooga, north-west of Gympie in Queensland and he owned a $3 million crematorium and a caravan park in northern New South Wales.

The tax avoider also fancied himself as a gourmet and a patron of the arts. When he came before Mr Costigan, the royal commissioner remarked: "Donald Brookes Lockyer's contempt for the laws of this country was matched only ledge of his Ingeniously simple scheme, Lockyer controlled more than 1000 companies. In the Supreme Court, Lockyer was charged with conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth over 134 companies which were sent into oblivion with tax liabilities of $15.7 million. His personal fee for sending these companies to the bottom of the harbor was $3.5 million. But he made millions more from the other hundreds of companies he controlled, stripped and dumped.

Lockyer never disclosed his bankruptcy during his dealings and chose not to pay any tax after 1963. He was once so respected he was even made a Justice of the Peace in New South Wales. He had a wry sense of humor about his contempt for the law. One of the companies discarded by Lockyer was named 'Au Re-voir'. But Lockyer's life in the fast lane could not last Lockyer was horn in Sydney on 16 June 1930.

at the height of the world's great financial crash. A bright student he passed bis Leaving Certificate at Fort Street High School at 16. He' went to Sydney University but soon left to study accountancy. Lockyer drifted from practice to practice, working in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. He made many friends and valuable contacts who would serve him well in later years.

He eventually recognised his gift for devising tax avoidance -14 four years of investigations by the former special prosecutor, Mr Robert Redlich, QC. the Royal Commission on the Ship Painters and Dockers Union, headed by Mr Frank Costigan, QC, and the office of the federal director of public prosecutions. Mr Ian Temby. QC- FuB details of Lockyer and Beames' convictions could riot be published until yesterday's findings against others charged in relation to the scheme who were acquitted. PAUL ROBiMSON looks at the case.

meated with fictions and The most adventurous tax rort Lockyer ran was a bottonvof-the harbor racket crude in concent but detailed in implementation. While Lockyer earned about $3.5 million from the scheme, he was due to pay about $648,000 to underlings or, as the Crown put it "garbagemen" such as Ian Robert Beames, a Queensland chartered accountant twice convicted on fraud-related matters. In the end, Beames received only $187,000 for his work. The Lockyer scheme was simple but it required massive documentation; The 134 companies involved were stripped of their assets, eventually passed to Beames and then unloaded to sham directors and shareholders. Mr Graeme Morrish, QC, told the Supreme Court that the Tax Department investigating the fate of the companies "would find first of all an empty shell with no assets, and second that the company was In the hands of people who were totally unable to assist because it was a feature of the scheme that the people chosen as the ultimate recipients of the company had in common first of all the need for money, and secondly, virtually no commercial experience or nous at The Commonwealth, according to court evidence, was defrauded of $15.77 million in lost tax.

By the end of 1986 it was estimated that vendor shareholders had repaid most of this. While Lockyer and Beames enjoyed the profits, the straw purchasers also did well, being paid up to $15,000 cash to do the jobs. Ian Robert Beames, who also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth in the Lockyer case, was born on 19 July 1943. He graduated from Queensland University in 1963. He moved to Melbourne where he worked for an accountancy group, Arthur Andersen and Co.

as a chartered accountant He then transferred to Sydney before moving to Brisbane in 1965 to take up a partnership in the firm Brown, Patrick and a group then specialising in liquidations and receiverships. Beames befriended Lockyer in 1967, when he walked into Bea-mes's office on business. Earthquake Beames, acting as the "garbage helped see some Lockyer-connected companies being sold up to six times. One company in his stable was "sold" three times on the last day of the financial year, 30 June 1980. With the money he made from stripping company assets and burying their tax liabilities, Lockyer operated a multitude of bank accounts in Australia, Hong Kong, the United States, the United Kingdom, Vanuatu, France and Honolulu.

He was a seasoned world traveller, always flying first class and using several passports. Between 1980 and 1982 he went abroad 16 times, visiting the United States, France and New Guinea. Lockyer met his wife Suzi in Adelaide in the late 1960s. They were married, apparently, in Tijuana, Mexico, on 9 November 1971, but neither Lockyer nor Suzi can prove the unkm. The re cords lie buried under the rubble of an earthquake.

Lockyer bought in his wife's name and in his many company names a wide portfolio of commercial, residential and developmental properties in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Aus- PARAGRAPH ADVERTISEMENTS AAACARJNG HANDS nilocifd. Now OMfi 10-10 Mon to Sat. come ana treat yourseu to a relaxme massage, with our friendly. xpvnencea iefnie situ, or pui ANSWERING SERVICE "ATTENTION" STOP THE WORLD if oAlv tar hort wftil. Come and hav a fwiawna.

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It provided a bulwark against his creditors. -y After the Lockyers' assets were frozen, police raided onextl the Bondi units. The commission was told that a loaded shotgun and an automatic rifle were found in the uait in February 1983. Both were ready to fire. Lockyer denied any knowledge of the guns.

He said: "I was amazed when I heard (about the guns), and very upset I have never seen it the shotgun) and never touched It' I've never had anything to do with guns in my life." Lockyer also associated with some of Melbourne's colorful characters. He was a heavy garrf-bler and frequented Melbourne's gambling establishments. But all the glitter, the expensive suits and the jet-setting iffe of Donald Brookes Lockyter crashed when he pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to charges of conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth. Before he was sentenced to two years and eight months for his. crimes, and out on bail, Lockyer had taken up residence friend on a fertile egg farm at' Cranbourne, about 60 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.

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