Former taxman jailed over tobacco bribes

AS A former federal policeman and then a Tax Office investigator, Philip James Roper was used to being trusted.
But, motivated by greed, he breached that trust - and tarnished the reputation of his colleagues - by taking bribes from illegal tobacco producers, a judge said yesterday.
A County Court jury convicted Roper, 52, of dishonestly asking for a benefit, dishonestly receiving a benefit and theft. He pleaded guilty to dishonestly receiving a benefit and abuse of public office. Judge Joe Gullaci said in sentencing that Roper, who had spent nine years with the federal police before joining the Tax Office, met Jimmy Wang, involved in the chop-chop industry, at the Gotham City brothel. Roper asked Wang for the names and addresses of other chop-chop sellers and said he would look after him.
The offences occurred between June 2001 and mid-2004. Wang believed that the arrangement was beneficial because it would remove competitors, Judge Gullaci said. The information Wang provided also allowed Roper to steal tobacco leaf and cutting machines, which were sold and the profits taken by Roper. Roper also stole five 100-kilogram bales of tobacco leaf from a Dandenong property. These were sold and he shared in the profits.
He also stalled a prosecution of a woman who had sold chop-chop at the Caribbean Gardens Markets by telling his colleagues that her address could not be determined. The woman's husband had also been selling chop-chop at a supermarket in Frankston North.
Judge Gullaci called Roper's crimes an ''abuse of trust and power'' and said Roper was motivated by the lure of easy money, free meals, meeting in hotels and being feted by criminals. ''But at the bottom of it, your motivation … was greed.''
Roper was jailed for 2½ years but will be released on a recognisance order of $1000 after 14 months.