A former general manager of a Canberra recycling company will spend the next six months behind bars after he allowed nearly $3.3 million worth of rubble to be illegally dumped.
Edward Watt, 57, started working for Canberra Concrete Recyclers in 2008 and, by 2014, was in the position to manage a commercial agreement with Sydney-based firm Tip It.
Tip It, directed by 42-year-old Leon Roussakis, went on to pay to legally dump tonnes of rubble at the concrete recyclers' Pialligo site but, by late 2014, Roussakis was asking for a better rate.
Unbeknownst to Canberra Concrete Recyclers' directors, Watt agreed that Tip It could dump some waste for free.
The firm went on to illegitimately dump nearly $3.3 million worth of rubble at the Pialligo site between November 2014 and October 2015 - sometimes under the cover of darkness at Watt's direction.
Other times, Watt ordered that staff doctor invoices so it appeared Tip It had dumped less waste than it actually had.
During the same timeframe - between 2014 and 2015 - Tip It paid nearly $2.5 million to do legitimate dumps at the concrete recyclers, which helped Watt meet his directors' revenue targets.
Watt was caught out when directors reviewed CCTV and saw Tip It B-doubles coming onto the site at night and dodging a weighbridge.
When they later questioned Watt about it, he said those night-time dumps had been accounted for, but the directors fired him immediately.
In the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice David Mossop said Watt's "deceitful and dishonest offending" represented a "gross breach of trust" and a "gross breach of his obligations to the company".
The judge sentenced Watt to 15 months in prison for providing false or misleading information to the company directors.
He suspended the sentence after six months on the condition Watt entered into a recognizance release order, and said he wouldn't make Watt pay reparations because of conflicting evidence about how much the recycling company had lost in the scam.
Justice Mossop ordered that Roussakis, who earlier pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Watt's deception, abide by a three-year recognizance release order and pay a fine of $22,000.
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