Whistleblower Richard Boyle is set to learn his fate after exposing unethical debt-collection practices at the Australian Taxation Office.
Judge Liesl Kudelka will sentence Boyle, 49, in the South Australian District Court, seven years after the former debt collection officer went public with allegations that led to reforms within the ATO.
In a plea deal with prosecutors, the Adelaide man has admitted four criminal charges, reduced from the original 66 laid after he appeared on the ABC’s Four Corners program.
Boyle has admitted disclosing protected information to another entity, making a record of protected information, using a listening device to record a private conversation and recording other people’s tax file numbers.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of two years’ jail.
Whistleblower Justice Fund founder Rex Patrick said a custodial sentence was unlikely because there had been a plea deal and the government’s lawyers didn’t seek a jail term “but ultimately that’s a decision for the judge”.
Another potential outcome was a conviction with a non-custodial sentence such as a good behaviour bond.
“The third option – which is what a number of people, including myself, wrote to the court urging – was no conviction, basically saying he didn’t operate with malice,” Patrick said.
“He actually thought he was protected. It’s taken four judges, and silks and lawyers to work out whether or not he was protected.
“He went in thinking he was but it turns out that he wasn’t. All...
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