The Vanuatu Connection - Be Concerned, Afp Warns
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday April 30, 2008
ABOUT 15 business premises, lawyers' offices and private homes belonging to Australian expatriates in Vanuatu and New Zealand have been raided by Australian Federal Police in connection with a two-year investigation into money laundering and tax evasion.
"If you have dealt with PKF Vanuatu over the last 10 years be concerned, be very, very concerned," a senior federal police officer warned yesterday in the wake of the raids, which formed part of Project Wickenby, the joint federal police and Australian Taxation Office investigation.Among the businesses from which documents have been seized is the accountancy firm PKF Vanuatu. It's principal, the former Sydney accountant Robert Francis Agius, will appear in Central Local Court in Sydney today following his extradition from Perth yesterday.Agius, 58, a Vanuatu resident for almost 30 years, is alleged to have been the mastermind of tax avoidance schemes that utilised tax havens across the world to enable his Australian clients to avoid paying an estimated $100 million in tax.More than 400 clients, including well-known people at the "higher echelons of business", are on the federal police hit list, the federal police's Commander Warren Gray said.Thirty of Agius's clients are expected to receive court attendance notices today. Dressed casually in a blue-knit vest, white shirt and grey slacks and with his hand locked in cuffs behind his back, Agius was the last to leave his Qantas flight when it arrived from Perth yesterday afternoon.Six uniformed federal police officers and two plain-clothes detectives were waiting to escort him from Sydney Airport.Asked about his time in jail in Perth, Agius said: "It was the first time [in jail] for me ... it's never pleasant I'm sure." He refused to comment on the allegations against him, saying: "I haven't been charged yet, give me a break."He said he knew nothing about raids on his offices in Vanuatu and remained silent when asked if he had any message for his clients or if knew who was on the federal police hit list.Agius's tax scheme allegedly consisted of a "round robin" arrangement whereby money was sent from Australia disguised as a consultancy fee through various companies in New Zealand and Vanuatu before returning to Australia in the form of a loan. Agius is alleged to have received commissions totalling $1.4 million since 2000, while his clients declared the "loan" as a tax deduction.While PKF Vanuatu's website was closed down yesterday, PKF Australia distanced itself from the Vanuatu outpost. PKF's Sydney office said yesterday: "Mr Agius is an employee of PKF Vanuatu. Under a licensing agreement, PKF Vanuatu is a member firm of PKF International, however, it is locally owned and operated and is completely financially and legally independent of PKF Australia."
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald