$50m Trove In Swiss Tax Investigation

The Age

Tuesday August 29, 2006

By LEONIE WOOD

SWISS bank accounts operated by three of the 17 suspected tax dodgers targetted by the high-profile Wickenby investigation hold about $50 million dollars.

The bank accounts were cited in material supplied by the Australian Government when it asked Swiss authorities last year to help seize material at the offices of Geneva-based financial services firm, Strachans SA.

Of the 17 suspected tax dodgers, three have been identified in court documents as TS, H and C - and Strachans has described the trio in court documents as "primary targets" of the joint investigation into tax avoidance and money laundering by the Tax Office and the Australian Crime Commission.

Various court challenges have suppressed the names of the Wickenby targets.

TS was described in the Government's official request as a Sydney-based accountant and financial adviser who had "very prominent" film industry clients, including H and C, as well as clients identified as E and S who live in Britain and the US and are "prominent in the motion picture industry".

H was described in the request as a non-resident of Australia from at least June 1995 to June 2002, while C was a non-resident between June 1996 and June 1999.

The ACC alleged that the suspects had each denied on their income tax returns that they had more than $50,000 of assets overseas, and so they had defrauded the Commonwealth and obtained a financial advantage by deception.

Details of what the Australian Government was seeking in Switzerland have emerged in a legal tussle as Strachans, a firm operated by Jersey-based accountant Philip Egglishaw, challenges the validity of the Attorney-General's requests for mutual assistance.

One challenge is being prepared in the Federal Court in Melbourne, and another challenge is before a Swiss court.

The official request prepared by the Australian Crime Commission listed numerous accounts operated by Strachans at the Corner Bank in Lugano, Switzerland, and it identified Visa cards issued to Strachans' Australian clients.

Investigators believe Strachans had advised Australian residents how to channel substantial assets into overseas companies and trusts that were "hidden behind an impenetrable veil of of incorporation".

The ACC alleges Strachans had helped "create misleading documents which assist in defrauding the Commonwealth" and it outlined how funds in the trusts could be accessed using Visa-branded debit or credit cards linked to accounts at the Corner Bank.

© 2006 The Age

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