Money laundering scheme exposed in Australia
On April 28, 2008, Police arrested a man on charges of running a money laundering scheme. The cheme assisted some customers in avoiding taxes by transferring $93 million through offshore bank accounts.
According to police, an arrested Australian, 58-year-old Robert Agius was charged with 3 fraud and money laundering offenses that allegedly operated in Australia, New Zealand and Vanuatu. The suspect has been living in Vanuatu.
Robert Agius is charged with collecting $1.3 million in commissions.
According to police commander Gray, although the charges regatded only about 20 alleged customers and unpaid Australian taxes exceeding $12 million, more than 400 people might have paid money into the money laundering scheme. Australian Federal Police contacted also other customers to warn them that they may collectively owe millions more in unpaid taxes. Gray, a senior crime officer with the Australian Federal Police, said the police expects to make some more arrests. The scheme was related to transferring money out of Australia as consulting fees, and afterwards claiming a business expense before returning the funds to Australia already as an interest-free loan.