So, it is not just the US which is crackling with corruption. The ABC program Four Corners, which still does some fine investigative journalism, presented a program, “Dirty Deeds,” about the biggest tax fraud in Australia’s history, the Plutus payroll scheme. The facts are somewhat difficult to concisely summarise, so it is worth watching the presentation which is on-line at the link given; I merely draw this to the reader’s attention. One of the guys in the scheme is the son of the deputy commissioner at the Australian Taxation Office, at the time. Irony of ironies.
“The conspirators of Australia’s biggest tax fraud are panicking.
In an office in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, Adam Cranston meets with his lawyer, Dev Menon.
The walls are closing in around them. They’re being extorted and threatened and fear the Australian Taxation Office is onto their scam.
They have no idea the Australian Federal Police is listening to every word.
Warning: This story contains explicit language.
Adam Cranston: If this was fully uncovered and they knew exactly what was going on it'd be ….. Ben Hur, man, this is a big-sized company.
Dev Menon: It would be the biggest tax fraud in Australia's history. Definitely. There is no question.
Four Corners is taking you inside the vast conspiracy to defraud more than $100 million from Australian taxpayers.
We’ve obtained 28,000 pages of documents and around 70 hours of intercepted phone, video and audio material that was pivotal to the prosecution’s case against the key conspirators. It’s the first time it’s been heard outside the courtroom that found them guilty.
Strip club scheming
Australia’s largest tax fraud isn’t dreamed up in a plush office with a dazzling harbour view.
It begins at a strip club.
It’s lunchtime in early 2014. Five men meet at a club in Sydney’s CBD.
There’s Adam Cranston. He’s a corporate player experienced in mopping up broken businesses, with a love of racing cars.
He also has a surprising family connection. At the time, his father, Michael Cranston, was a deputy commissioner at the Australian Taxation Office.
Peter Larcombe is a fund manager and property investor who was at one point in time believed to be associated with an outlaw motorcycle group.”