Wittensleger v WA

[2014] WASCA 205

Western Australia Court of Appeal

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

See how it works

Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Fraud
3. › Deceit or fraudulent means
4. › Whether knowledge of falsity by employee of victim company negates deceit
5. › Whether active concealment of true state of affairs constitutes 'other fraudulent means'
6. › Criminal Code (WA), s 409(1)(c)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal
3. › Application for leave to appeal against conviction
4. › Whether verdicts unreasonable or unsupported by evidence
5. › Relevance of evidence of false invoices
6. › Failure to call witness
7. › [name withheld] v [name withheld] direction in criminal trials
8. › Adequacy of summing up
9. › Incompetence of trial counsel
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Fraud offences
4. › Totality principle
5. › Whether total effective sentence of 8 years disproportionate to total criminal conduct
6. › Multiple counts
7. › Large-scale fraud
8. › Prior conviction for similar offending
9. › Criminal Code (WA), s 409(1)(h)

Quick Take

Where an employee of a victim company approves fraudulent applications while acting outside the scope of their authority, the employee's knowledge of the fraud cannot be imputed to the company, and the element of deceit or fraudulent means under s 409 of the Criminal Code (WA) remains established. There is no established sentencing range for fraud offences under s 409 due to the diverse circumstances in which the offence is committed. A total effective sentence of 8 years' imprisonment was upheld for 86 counts of fraud involving $6.5 million obtained through false insurance premium funding applications.