A man jailed for making $370,000 by illegally operating a charter airline used by state and federal MPs has won an appeal against his sentence.
Josh Hoch, 36, operated the Flying Fitters Pty Ltd and Hoch Air Pty Ltd, transporting politicians from Katter’s Australian Party around their Queensland electorates over a five-year period.
Hoch was jailed for two years in November 2022 after being found guilty in Townsville District Court of three counts of fraud to the value of $30,000 or more, one count of dishonesty, four of flying an aircraft without a licence and five of operating an aircraft without an air operator’s certificate.
Hoch’s appeal pointed to comments made by the original sentencing judge that his fraud and flying offences were considered part of one sequence of offending. Mr Katter used Hoch’s flight charter service through his travel allowance, but was unaware of its lack of authenticity and it was not alleged any of the KAP politicians engaged in any wrongdoing.
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