by Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Springvale-based company director has been jailed over providing a fake employment letter for a bail applicant at court.
Rothanak Khim, 31, who ran the defunct Ream Labours Provider Pty Ltd, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Khim had signed the letter in late 2023 to falsely confirm that the bail applicant Aladore Walsh was an employee for the past two years.
His motivation had been financial, sentencing judge Pardeep Tiwana stated on 13 September.
“Mr Walsh securing bail would have meant that he would continue to pay you in exchange for you keeping him ‘on the books’,” Khim said.
“You wanted him to be released because he owed you more than $3,000.”
In a phone call with police, Khim maintained the lie. He told them that the applicant was an excellent site supervisor, managing mainly sites in Springvale.
Walsh at the time was working on a job in Leman Crescent, Noble Park, Khim claimed.
However the Noble Park property’s owner told police that a different company was working on the site. They didn’t know of Walsh.
The owner had met Khim while working together at a Footscray Market fruit shop about 10 years earlier and occasionally met since.
Khim was arrested, and conceded Walsh had last worked for him 11 months earlier.
His labour-hire company had at the time lost its licence and hadn’t been operating since 2022.
The Cambodian-born Khim had a prior conviction for driving unlicensed and using a false driver’s licence with his photo and in another person’s name in 2022.
Judge Tiwana noted that the serious offending was planned and involved lying to a court and a police officer over two days.
“Attempting to pervert the course of justice is an offence that undermines the integrity of the criminal justice system and the rule of law.
“Unsurprisingly, it is regarded as a very serious offence marked by a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.”
He also took into account Khim’s early guilty plea, his “fair” rehabilitation prospects as well as his potential deportation would make custody more onerous.
Judge Tiwana convicted and jailed Khim for five months, followed by an “onerous” 15-month community corrections order.
The CCO included 120 hours of unpaid work and mental health treatment.
