Little one sexual exploitation, drug trafficking and large-scale tax fraud threats are on the rise, says a damning report from AUSTRAC. Michael West studies on the epic 17-year failure to ship money-laundering reforms whose impact is to lock Australians out of reasonably priced property.
The CrowdStrike meltdown, which wrought chaos throughout the globe, did make one factor clear, the necessity for various foreign money when on-line methods breakdown. Coles supermarkets was asking clients to pay in money.
And whereas money is commonly criticised as a device of cash launderers, and rightly, a damning report from money-laundering regulator AUSTRAC this week confirmed illicit money transactions are only a little bit of the money-laundering image.
The Massive Finish of City, the white collar world of attorneys, accountants and property folks, is the true development sector for money-launderers.
Mega dithering
The failure of successive governments to introduce (AML-CTF Tranche II laws) promised 17 years in the past have made Australia a haven for white collar crime. Or, “a sexy vacation spot for illicit funds” as the AUSTRAC report frames it. And this failure is because of relentless lobbying by vested interests.
Not solely has it allowed accountants, attorneys and property corporations to facilitate money-laundering with impunity, the international flows of ‘black cash’ into this nation put upward strain on property costs. They lock younger Australians out of the property market and put strain on rents too.
You’d suppose that such an epic failure, a failure a lot within the public curiosity, would entail some rationalization by those that govern us. Sadly, there’s none, simply stonewalling and guarantees of a crackdown.
Rex Patrick, the previous senator turned “Transparency Warrior” and MWM columnist has acquired closely redacted responses to latest Freedom of Info requests. However they do point out that “stakeholders” with vested pursuits (property, regulation, accounting professions) are nonetheless lobbying towards AML reforms.
Latest efforts by Legal professional-Normal Mark Dreyfus to guarantee the worldwide neighborhood and the Monetary Motion Taskforce in Geneva (FATF) that change is afoot, have met with scepticism. And efforts by this journal to garner public info on the progress of Dreyfus’s “crackdown” stay, at this level, merely phrases.
And what of the outlook? This week’s launch of a Nationwide Threat Evaluation, Money Laundering in Australia, by regulator AUSTRAC reveals the dangers are on the rise, even rising dangers for youngsters, dangers of sexual exploitation by predators.
AUSTRAC Nationwide Threat Evaluation, Cash Laundering in Australia
AUSTRAC finds that money-laundering remained an “intractable challenge” and its report is a concession that successive governments have didn’t ship reform.
Soiled cash ‘invested’ into our actual property market pushes up home costs. A brand new @AUSTRAC report reveals it’s rife. @MarkDreyfusKCMP refuses to make some easy #transparency fixes🤷♂️. Whereas he sits idle new dwelling consumers lose and crooks, attorneys & property builders win. 1/2 #auspol pic.twitter.com/USyjD4rCPj
— Rex Patrick (@MrRexPatrick) July 19, 2024
“Underpinning many cash laundering actions in Australia is opacity, anonymity and a scarcity of transactional visibility. The usage of money, trusts, id crime, mule accounts and third-party transactions that obscure id, useful possession or monetary flows continues to be a mainstay of cash laundering,” says the report.
The important thing theme to emerge from this evaluation is persistence: persistent exploitation of channels which have traditionally been used to launder funds (e.g. banks, remitters and casinos); persistent exploitation of high-value belongings like luxurious watches, autos and actual property; and chronic involvement {of professional} service suppliers to assist set up advanced enterprise constructions and related banking preparations to assist people launder funds and conceal wealth.
Dissembling
Though the AG’s division bought cracking on the AML reforms when the brand new authorities bought into workplace two years in the past, all we’ve got seen but is speak of a crackdown, a press launch and a speech on the Nationwide Press Membership by Mark Dreyfus saying issues have been taking place. Then the inevitable press:
“A crackdown on cash laundering means actual property brokers, attorneys and accountants might want to report suspicious transactions” declared the ABC.
“Australian crackdown to cease soiled cash shopping for actual property,” trumpeted the AFR.
Crackdowns and Crickets: money-laundering to keep firing up real estate … for now
The Rex Patrick FOIs confirmed the federal government remains to be in session with stakeholders however it appears, regardless of the guarantees, that the stakeholders and their donors are getting the higher of the politicians and bureaucrats
“The Albanese Authorities not too long ago commenced the following stage of session on reforms to Australia’s AML/CTF regime, demonstrating our dedication to fight legal abuse of our monetary system after almost a decade of inaction by the previous authorities,” stated the A-G.
And whereas the media lapped it up, the cash laundering foyer didn’t see it fairly the identical manner.
The Regulation Council of Australia, long-term champions of the money-launderers, welcomed the AG’s ‘session paper’ and the loopholes to which the federal government seems to have already conceded.
Its press launch was headlined “Additional session on Australia’s AML/CTF regime welcome”.
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to deal with journalism of excessive public curiosity, notably the rising energy of companies over democracy. West was previously a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for Information Corp and even, as soon as, a stockbroker.
