The ATO Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston has been charged with abusing his position as a public official after his son was arrested relating to a $165 million tax fraud.
Mr Cranston’s 30-year-old son Adam Cranston and eight other people were arrested following an eight-month investigation, codenamed Operation Elbrus, with assistance from ATO, AFP said on Thursday.
“The scale of this allege fraud is unprecedented for the AFP,” said Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Operations Leanne Close on Thursday.
“It appears that his son has asked him to access some information potentially,” Ms Close told reporters in Sydney.
“We don’t believe that at this point that he had any knowledge of the actual conspiracy and the defrauding.”
Adam Cranston was arrested in Bondi during 27 raids on homes and businesses across Sydney yesterday.
Ms Close revealed that multiple assets were seized over the past two days include 25 motor vehicles, 18 residential properties, 12 motorbikes, over 100 bank accounts and share trading accounts, two aircrafts, and at least $1 million located in a safety deposit box.
“This investigation has uncovered high-level organised activity; it is complex [and] sophisticated,” a source told the The Daily Telegraph.
“I think it will take the police a long time to figure out exactly how much money [is involved].”
The fraud, which is one of the biggest white-collar crimes in Australia’s history, allegedly involved a payroll company which would pay wages through a second tier company – only paying the ATO a fraction of the income tax required.
The remaining withheld tax would allegedly go to the syndicate operators.
Each individual fraud was reportedly too small to gain the ATO’s attention, but parallel investigations by the AFP and ATO began to reveal discrepancies.
Adam Cranston is due to face Sydney’s Central Local Court on Thursday morning charged with conspiracy to defraud the commonwealth.
A further six search warrants will be executed on Thursday, said the AFP.
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