Four men have been arrested and charged over their alleged involvement in what police say is a sophisticated money laundering syndicate accused of washing more than $150 million linked to the lucrative illicit tobacco trade.
Investigators from the Australian Federal Police, NSW Police, the Australian Border Force and the financial crimes watchdog, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, swooped on more than a dozen homes and storage units across Sydney on Monday, seizing 10 tonnes of illicit tobacco, more than $200,000 in cash and a money counting machine.
Police will allege the syndicate has links to the importation and distribution of illicit tobacco and had been laundering ill-gotten gains for several organised crime groups. The AFP and NSW Police jointly established Operation Avarus-Mustang, targeting the syndicate and the groups it was allegedly laundering money for, in May this year.
On Monday morning, Haihao He, who police allege is a senior member of the syndicate, was arrested at a Dundas Valley home and charged with three counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime worth more than $1 million. Police will allege the 38-year-old laundered $23 million, alleged to be the proceeds of crime, for the syndicate through bank accounts linked to fraudulent businesses.
Senior members of the syndicate allegedly recruited people – known as “straw directors” – to register the businesses and open the accounts, which police allege syndicate members then took control of to receive large amounts of cash into them.
The cash was allegedly moved through a series of accounts used to launder the funds, which were transferred into overseas accounts before being redirected back to local bank accounts linked to foreign companies to appear as legitimate business payments. He is accused of managing several of the “straw directors” the syndicate recruited. He was refused police bail to face court on Tuesday.
Four men were arrested over their alleged involvement in the money laundering syndicate.Credit: AFP
Police allege the financial records of businesses linked to the syndicate show little or no legitimate business expenses, including rental, insurance or tax payments. Several bank accounts linked to the syndicate have been frozen and will probably be restrained as the proceeds of crime.
One of He’s fellow syndicate members, accused of laundering more than $7.8 million alleged to be the proceeds of crime, was arrested on November 14 and charged with dealing with proceeds of crime worth more than $1 million.