24 November 2024, 8:26am
Media Release
AFP confiscates almost $680,000 cash in WA linked to suspected tax fraud
Editor’s note: Audio grabs from AFP Detective acting Inspector Fleur Jennings and images of the seized cash are available via Hightail.
The AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) has secured the forfeiture of $679,750 in cash seized from a Geraldton farmer at Perth Airport in 2021.
The CACT launched an investigation after an AFP canine at Perth Airport detected the large amount of cash in two backpacks belonging to a man, now 52.
The man had arrived on a domestic flight from Adelaide in September, 2021, and was waiting for a flight to Geraldton when he was identified during the AFP’s routine patrols of the airport.
When AFP officers searched the man’s bags, they found bundles of $50 and $100 notes.
The man was subsequently arrested and told AFP investigators he had travelled to Adelaide to collect cash payments as part of his business activities as a vegetable grower. The money and other documents were seized and he was released without charge, pending further inquiries.
The CACT investigation focused on the man’s financial activities and suspicions of tax fraud.
In December, 2021, AFP criminal assets investigators and Australian Border Force (ABF) officers executed warrants at three properties in WA’s Mid-West region linked to the man and seized further documents.
ABF officers also checked the visa status of workers at two of the properties and allegedly identified two people were in breach of their visas.
The Geraldton man was issued with two employer infringement notices and fined $15,984.
The AFP CACT investigator formed the suspicion the man had been carrying the cash to conceal his earnings from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
The CACT applied to the WA courts to have the cash restrained and forfeited and the man did not oppose the orders being made.
On 11 November, 2024, the Supreme Court of WA ordered the funds to be forfeited under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth).
AFP Detective acting Inspector Fleur Jennings said the AFP-led CACT worked to disrupt illegal activity and ensured law-abiding Australians were not disadvantaged by people who tried to cheat the tax system.
“Australians who don’t pay taxes, or who accumulate illicit wealth are able to enjoy lives of luxury without the same financial pressures faced by ordinary Australians,” Det a/Insp Jennings said.
“The CACT’s investigators, forensic accountants and litigators work hard to punish and deter people who seek to profit from exploiting the community and ensure they justify how they accumulate their wealth.
“The successful restraint and forfeiture of this amount of cash is testament to the ongoing collaboration of CACT investigators and litigators and their persistence to see the legal process through to completion.
“It is rewarding that funds forfeited through the CACT’s work are redirected to programs that benefit the community.”
The Commonwealth’s proceeds of crime laws provide extensive tools for the restraint of both proceeds and instruments of crime, as well as financial penalty and unexplained wealth orders, based on a civil standard of proof. These laws operate separately to any criminal prosecution and can also operate when there is no related criminal investigation or prosecution.
The AFP-led CACT brings together the resources and expertise of the AFP, Australian Border Force, ATO, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and AUSTRAC. Together these agencies trace, restrain and ultimately confiscate criminal assets.
While the CACT litigates matters in the courts, restrained assets are managed on behalf of the Commonwealth by the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA). At the conclusion of successful legal proceedings, confiscated assets are then liquidated by AFSA, with the proceeds placed in the Commonwealth Confiscated Assets Account (CAA).
Funds in the CAA are then redistributed by the Attorney-General into many and varied crime prevention and law enforcement related measures, including those dealing with child protection and online child safety, illicit drugs, community safety programs, and a national DNA program for unidentified and missing persons.
