ASIC cancels AFS licence of convicted tax accountant

As AAP reported in May, Vanda Gould was handed extra jail time after being charged in 2016 over a false witness testimony given during civil proceedings in the Federal Court in 2013 during a tax evasion investigation.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said at the time: “During those proceedings — which related to a tax evasion investigation — one of the witnesses gave evidence relating to his Swiss-based company’s apparent ownership of offshore companies.

“It was later found that this testimony was fabricated at the direction of the Sydney man, who had coached the witness to give false evidence.”

On Tuesday, ASIC confirmed to ifa that it had cancelled Mr Gould’s licence which he has held since 4 December 2003.

“ASIC cancelled the licence because the licensee failed to maintain external dispute resolution membership with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), and had failed to lodge profit and loss statements and balance sheets for financial years ended 30 June 2019 and 30 June 2020,” a statement released on Tuesday read.

Under the Corporations Act, the regulator may suspend or cancel an AFS licence if a licensee fails to meet obligations that include holding membership of a dispute resolution system and lodging financial statements annually.

Mr Gould was also recently mentioned in the Pandora Papers scandal.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.