Disgraced Maitland accountant Michael Unicomb still listed by regulator as a registered tax agent

Unicomb was sentenced on Wednesday to 19 months' imprisonment after admitting in Newcastle District Court to using an elderly client to secure a $1.16 million bank loan and diverting funds to himself and an associate.

The Newcastle Herald understands that several of Unicomb's clients made complaints to the Tax Practitioners' Board (TPB), the regulator of tax agents, back in 2014, but no action was taken.

Another complaint was made last year after Unicomb pleaded guilty, but he was still listed on the regulator's website as a registered tax agent on Thursday.

The 67-year-old principal of East Maitland's Michael Unicomb and Associates' troubled career has been littered with controversy.

In 2008, a Supreme Court judge ruled Unicomb, "a long-standing and trusted adviser and personal friend" of Wallalong farmers Dallas and Juliet Clarke, had abused the couple's trust by pressuring them into entering into loans worth $2 million, for his own purposes.

A month earlier, another judge accused Unicomb of abusing the trust of a terminally ill client, the late Peter Cairns, of Gillieston Heights, and leading him into bad transactions for his own purposes.

The court heard that three months before his death in March 2005 from complications related to his cancer, Mr Cairns borrowed $200,000 from a high-interest lender and authorised payment of funds to Unicomb's trust account.

A spokesman for the TPB said he was unable to comment on individual cases.

He said while investigations were underway the board could ensure limited or restricted access to ATO online services which would prevent a tax practitioner from operating.

Registered tax agents must comply with a professional code of conduct outlined in the Tax Agents' Services Act (TASA).

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