Australian Crime Commission is intent on seizing documents relating to wealthy Australians accused of money laundering and tax evasion.

Corner Banca, a private institution which assures its clients of "discretion", has found itself at the centre of unwelcome publicity. First, it featured in a major money-laundering case in the US; now the Australian Crime Commission is intent on seizing documents relating to wealthy Australians accused of money laundering and tax evasion.Banking records relating to companies controlled by the entertainment figures Paul Hogan and John Cornell, through the Swiss accounting firm Strachans, have been high priorities for the commission. The duo say they paid tax and have acted honestly.
Court documents reveal the commission has claimed that Strachans organised bank accounts at the Corner Banca which allowed its Australian clients to access their funds from ATMs anywhere in the world through Corner Banca-issued credit cards.
When the commission was seeking access to the documents in Switzerland in 2005, Swiss authorities were told that Australian investigators believed Strachans not only provided accounting and banking services but was "a willing participant in facilitating criminal activity".For the last three years, lawyers for Strachans in Australia have sought to prevent the commission from obtaining the documents.
This week, the commission had a victory in the Federal Court in Melbourne when Justice Richard Tracey ruled that the former attorney-general Philip Ruddock's request to Swiss authorities for business records from the bank and accountancy firm was valid.Justice Tracey's judgment revealed that key targets for the commission were entertainment figures "H" and "C", who were arguing that the Swiss should not hand over business records because material provided to the Swiss about them was wrong.What was wrong, the court heard, was details about whether or not they were Australian residents for key tax years."I do not accept these contentions," said the judge. "In the first place, [they] are founded on a mistaken assumption that H and C, had they not been Australian residents, could not have committed offences against Australian law."Justice Tracey said even if they had been non-residents, they were obliged to comply with Australian tax law on income generated from their Australian companies.He also noted that "H" had told the US Internal Revenue Service in 2003-2004 that "his personal and economic relations were closest to Australia, where he maintains his permanent home"According to the judge, investigators knew what documents they were looking for in Switzerland after they examined the laptop computer of the Strachans principal Philip Egglishaw.Egglishaw had come to the notice of Australian authorities during an investigation into a friend and client, the Melbourne entertainment barrister Michael Brereton.