29 Apr 2008

Australian man from Vanuatu arrested over a 93 million US dollar scheme

10:26 am on 29 April 2008

An Australian citizen from Vanuatu has been arrested over a more than 93 million US dollar offshore money laundering scheme, and police also expect to arrest many of his customers.

The Australian Federal Police or AFP say the 58-year-old man was arrested in Perth, a few days before he planned to fly back to Vanuatu.

Federal agents allege the scheme involved evasion of over 12 million US dollars in taxes on the more than 93 million dollars of his customers' business profits.

The man allegedly has received 1.3 million US dollars in commissions, through foreign bank accounts, since 2000.

He allegedly advertised the scheme to clients ranging from high-profile business people to owners of small enterprises.

The AFP says it will contact 400 people by letter, asking them to come forward, because they had been identified as participants in the scheme.

AFP commander of economic operations, Warren Gray, says we will be pursuing these people to ensure they pay their fair share of tax.