China gives PwC record £47m fine and six-month ban over Evergrande – 13 September 2024
The China arm of the accountancy firm PwC has been banned for six months and fined a record 441m yuan (£47m) over its audit of the collapsed property developer Evergrande. It was found that PwC and its Guangzhou branch knew that there were major misstatements in Evergrande Real Estate’s financial statements during the audit of Evergrande Real Estate’s financial statements and issued inappropriate audit opinions, and issued false audit reports.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/13/china-pwc-47m-fine-six-month-ban-evergrande-audit
Former department bosses Kathryn Campbell and Renee Leon named for breaching duties in relation to Robodebt – 13 September 2024
The robodebt scheme was an automated tool for assessing and recovering Centrelink debts. Sixteen public servants were referred to the public service commissioner for investigation last year, including current employees named in the sealed section of the robodebt royal commission’s final report. The commission reported “12 current and former public servants and former agency heads have been found to have breached the code on 97 occasions”.
Indian families are falling for multi-million-dollar Australian visa scams – 16 September 2024
New rules introduced by the Government last year aimed to stop visa fraud but instead these changes may have fuelled a surge in unethical practices. This investigation reveals how opportunistic agents in India are using an Australian college to scam students out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The killing of underworld figure Alen Moradian raises difficult questions about how police fight a gangland war – 16 September 2024
The killing of underworld figure Alen Moradian, raises troubling questions about law enforcement’s role in Australia’s ongoing gang wars: should police intervene to save a life, or wait and gather more evidence on significant criminal networks? The rules and protocols are not clear. Those who watch this world closely say that must change.
Criminal elements still influential in CFMEU construction division, report finds – 16 September 2024
A preliminary investigation into the CFMEU’s construction division has found it is still influenced by bikies and attempts to remove criminal elements were “inadequate”.
The investigation by Geoffrey Watson SC found the union was “caught up in a cycle of lawlessness”. Mr Watson recommended the CFMEU work with police to root out criminal elements.
Former Department of Communities project manager Mark Ainslie jailed over cash-for-contracts scheme – 17 September 2024
Mark Ainslie was a former project manager with the Department of Communities when he took more than $200,000 in bribes to award lucrative construction contracts to his associates. His offences spanned five years before he quit the department in 2020. Ainslie was sentenced to more than four years’ jail, and will be eligible for parole in April 2027.
Revealed: criminals and unlicensed agents operating across Australia’s real estate sector – 17 September 2024
Transparency International Australia says international regulators and the federal government have ‘clearly identified real estate as being at very high risk of money laundering involving organised crime gangs’. Revelations come amid federal government push for additional scrutiny of sector through counter-terror financing and money-laundering laws.
AML/CTF Amendment Bill: A significant development to combating financial crime – 17 September 2024
On 11 September 2024, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2024 (the Bill) was introduced into Parliament, a significant development in Australia’s approach to combating financial crime. The Bill represents the long-awaited ‘second tranche’ of reforms to Australia’s anti-money laundering/counter terrorism financing (AML/CTF) regime, which was initially established under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (the Act).
How the AFP cracked an encrypted messaging app used by the criminal underworld – 18 September 2024
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-18/how-the-afp-cracked-an-encrypted-messaging-app/104368364
Operation Kraken: AFP restrains almost $2 million in assets in WA investigation
In a pre-dawn raid as part of Operation Kraken, the AFP targeted a 32-year-old man police allege is the mastermind of an encrypted communication network used solely by the criminal underworld called ‘Ghost’. The AFP will be alleging that this platform is solely being used for criminality and serious organised crime, drug trafficking, drug importation, tobacco trafficking, firearms trafficking, money laundering, and threats to life and to harm.
Two Victorian men fined $4000 each for betting on the Australian of the Year awards using inside information – 19 September 2024
Two Victorian men were sentenced by the Dandenong Magistrates Court for using inside information to bet on the winner of three Australian of the Year Award. They were charged in June 2023 as part of Operation Maridun, an AFP-led multi-agency investigation into irregular betting on the awards.
Third Person Charged in Multimillion Dollar Fraud Case – 20 September 2024
Financial Crimes Squad detectives have charged a third man for his alleged role in a $10 million financing fraud targeting a Sydney automotive group. The investigation found that the syndicate was allegedly using the stolen personal information of more than 33 people to apply for loans through various financial companies to purchase luxury cars that did not exist.
https://www.miragenews.com/third-person-charged-in-multimillion-dollar-1320734/
