Title : Former ATO official Michael Cranston says being charged was 'blackest day of my life'
link : Former ATO official Michael Cranston says being charged was 'blackest day of my life'
Former ATO official Michael Cranston says being charged was 'blackest day of my life'
Former deputy commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office, Michael Cranston, has spoken out for the first time to 7.30 about the "blackest day" of his life when he was charged with misusing his position.
Key points:
- Michael Cranston was deputy commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office
- He was found not guilty of criminal offences for misusing his position to benefit his son
- A separate ATO code of conduct investigation found he did not behave with honesty and integrity
He also defended himself against the findings of a separate ATO code of conduct review, never before made public, that found he failed to act with integrity and honesty.
In February Mr Cranston was found not guilty of criminal offences for misusing his position to benefit his son.
The charges brought against him were in relation to two conversations he had with his subordinates in the ATO about matters his son had raised with him.
Adam Cranston and a number of others were charged in May 2017 with serious offences as part of an alleged $165 million tax fraud syndicate. They are awaiting trial.
There is no suggestion Mr Cranston had any knowledge of the alleged tax fraud syndicate.
'It was a terrible day'
In May 2017, Mr Cranston was approached by two Australian Federal Police officers shortly before he was due to give a morning conference to a group of accountants.
"That was probably the blackest day of my life," he told 7.30.
"They had to do a search warrant on me, and I went through three hours of questioning. And it was just horrendous."
"It was a terrible day. I've cried five times in my life, and that was one of the days."
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7.30 can reveal that while Mr Cranston was found not guilty of the criminal offences, an ATO code of conduct investigation into his actions found he did not take reasonable steps to avoid a real or apparent conflict of interest.
The findings relate to breaches of the Australian Public Service code of conduct and are not criminal matters. 7.30 has not seen the full report or the basis for the ATO's findings.
An ATO spokesman said the independent review found Mr Cranston "failed to comply with lawful and reasonable directions" and did not use Commonwealth resources in a proper manner or uphold the reputation of the public service.
Mr Cranston told 7.30 he rejected the findings of the ATO's investigation and denied he had breached the code of conduct, saying he was unable to defend himself during the process.
He resigned from the ATO while the investigation was ongoing.
"I wasn't able to give a full defence in relation to explaining things because I had the criminal charges coming," he said.
"I wasn't in the position to explain those things and we couldn't contextualise all those particular conversations, which I had the opportunity to in court."
'Just the way we worked'
He said he took a "pragmatic approach" to the code of conduct guidelines around declaring any potential conflict of interest about the matters his son had raised, and believed he did not need to disclose his son's matter to his superiors.
"The matter had to be dealt with, so I had to move it on to somebody," he said.
"That was an option, to disclose it my superiors, but as I said I took a view, a pragmatic view."
He said he did not believe it was inappropriate for him to raise the matters with his subordinates because "that was just the way we worked".
But he acknowledged that with hindsight he might have taken a different approach to how he handled the matters his son raised.
"In hindsight ... yes of course I would have filled a form out or ticked a box," he said.
"I might have been a little ... stricter in things. But as I said before, I still don't believe I did anything wrong."
'I shouldn't have been charged'
Mr Cranston was critical of the conduct of the Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) in pursuing him, suggesting that if they had made further inquiries into the culture of the ATO they would not have continued on with the charges.
"I shouldn't have been charged. I think if you actually, if you saw some of the information that had finally gone to court and the explanations we had given through witnesses, even their own witnesses, it was clear that what I had done wasn't criminal."
A spokeswoman for the CDPP told 7.30: "The decision to prosecute Mr Cranston was made in accordance with the prosecution policy of the Commonwealth. This was following an extensive investigation conducted by the AFP and the submission of a brief of evidence to the CDPP, which established that there was a reasonable prospect of conviction and that it was in the public interest to prosecute."
A spokesman for the AFP said it accepts the decision of the court, and added that the CDPP was consulted before charges were brought against Mr Cranston.
"The only factors in the decision to charge Mr Cranston were the evidence collected by investigators and the advice of the CDPP," he said.
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