Project Wickenby emphasises AML/CTF importance

A partner at one of Australia’s leading chartered accounting firms believes the arrest of three men as a result of the cross-agency exercise Project Wickenby highlights the significance the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) legislation will have for financial institutions.

Deloitte forensic partner Chris Cass said: “There’ll be many more institutions in Australia that will need to do the due diligence checks to make sure that they don’t end up with the proceeds of crime from people who perhaps get caught in one of these inter-agency sweeps.”

He said aside from the potential criminal and legal implications a situation like this can pose, institutions that get caught with these sorts of assets will suffer financially once the legislation is implemented.

“I’ve co-presented with the Australian Federal Police on anti-money laundering presentations and they say they just come in and seize the proceeds of crime, and if the institution happens to be the one that ended up with the money at the time the action was launched that’s just bad luck,” Cass said.

Moreover, he feels there will be a culture shift whereby federal agencies will monitor how sound each major financial company’s anti-money laundering procedures are in order to facilitate operations like Wickenby in the future.

“I think the police will get to know institutions that have very robust controls, and I think this will help the police and these other agencies do their investigations,” Cass said.

Three directors of a regional telephone directories business were charged last week with conspiring to defraud the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) of $6.6 million.

The operation was led by the ATO and involved the cooperation of the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.