The Victorian Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced Peter Couper, the former chief financial officer of the parent company of Bill Express, to 22 months in jail (to be released after 60 days) and fined him A$10,000. Couper was originally sentenced by the Victorian County Court in 2012 to 21 months jail - wholly suspended - and also fined $10,000 in connection with four charges brought against him, following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigation.Couper had admitted that between August 2007 and February 2008 he falsified the books of Bill Express by instructing employees to post entries in Bill Express's accounting system that recorded non-existent sales, a false credit note and a false record of purchases.The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said last year that "the existence of these false transactions resulted in Bill Express recording an additional profit of $3.5 million for the financial year ended 30 June 2007 and recording an additional profit of $3.5 million for the half year ended 31 December 2007, when no such profits had been made."